


Some Rules Are Meant To Be Broken

by ToriWritesStories



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Drama, Eventual Romance, F/F, Fluff and Smut, Friends With Benefits, Musicals, No Strings Attached, Rules, Secrets, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 11:41:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 85,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24849175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToriWritesStories/pseuds/ToriWritesStories
Summary: Toni Topaz and Cheryl Blossom have been hooking up since the beginning of the spring semester - but with certain rules in place, as per Cheryl's request. It never bothered Toni, because she's never really had romantic feelings that lasted with anyone, but when she starts to develop them for Cheryl, and they don't go away, she knows that she needs Cheryl to feel them too.Featuring some fun Film Major!Toni and Performing Arts Major!Cheryl :)
Relationships: Cheryl Blossom & Josie McCoy, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz
Comments: 487
Kudos: 477
Collections: 7th Bughead Fanfiction Awards - Nominees





	1. Toni's Apartment

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, hi, and happy Sunday! It's as a good a day as ever for a new Choni story, right? Oh - if you don't know me, my name is Tori, I write lots of lesbian fanfic, and you can find me on Twitter @BrittzandTana! This is my 4th Choni story here on Ao3!
> 
> This story should be a fun ride, I have completely finished it and updates will be at least weekly and possibly more often. The summary for this story is pretty much all you need to know to start reading this story, so, I hope you will all enjoy!! xx

“—which is why the pan shot was invented, of course. Does anyone know what year that was?” Toni Topaz glanced around the small lecture hall at the rest of her classmates, who all seemed disinterested in Professor West’s lecture. “Did any of you do the reading?” More silence. Professor West let out a breath, taking off his eyeglasses and rubbing his temples. “I know that this class can be hard to get through. And as freshmen in the film program, you may not see the value in learning these things, but—”

“1897,” Toni finally called out, drawing a few gazes her way and a smirk from her friend Peaches, who sat next to her in this class.

Professor West put his glasses back on as his eyes fell on where Toni sat near the back of the classroom. “Thank you, Miss—?”

“Topaz,” Toni answered somewhat dejectedly. She’d told herself that she wouldn’t be _that_ kid in class, but this was the least interactive class she’d been in since starting college last semester. Personally, she found the history of film to be really interesting, and she hated having a professor think that she was as uncaring as some students were.

“Miss Topaz,” he repeated, “that is correct. 1897. Now, after the pan shot was invented, cameras could _pan_ across a scene, no longer stuck being stationary. This kind of shot is called…?”

Toni ducked her head down, not wanting to _really_ be _that_ kind. Thankfully, Peaches must’ve noticed her change in demeanor, because she cleared her throat and said, “Panorama?”

“Correct!” Professor West answered excitedly. “Wow, some actual participation!” He glanced down at his watch. “And with that little spurt of participation, we’ve reached the end of class time. _Please_ try and get the reading done for next lecture, or at least prepare some wrong answers so I don’t have to sit through your silence every day of the rest of this semester.”

Everyone started grabbing their stuff and shuffling out of the lecture hall, and Toni and Peaches did the same. “What happened to not being the know-it-all?” Peaches asked Toni in amusement.

“He’s a good professor,” Toni told her, “and it’s not fair to him if _no_ one participates.”

“He’s getting paid no matter what,” Peaches said with a little laugh.

Toni just shrugged, and they both walked out of the lecture hall. “Anyway,” Toni said, “it’s not like I’m going to answer all of his questions all the time. And I’m not a know-it-all. I like the class, so what?”

“You’re such a nerd,” Peaches insisted. Toni just rolled her eyes, and as they turned down the main hallway of the Fine Arts building, she immediately began to scan the faces walking in the opposite direction. “Hey, you gonna be at Fangs’ place tomorrow night?”

“Probably,” Toni answered. “Hopefully I can drag Sweet Pea out with me too.”

“Is he somehow already becoming a sloth?” Peaches asked. “He’s been staying with you for what, a day?”

“He literally got there yesterday, yeah,” Toni agreed, amused as well. “I told him he needs to start looking for a place to live, it’s not like I can give him my couch forever.”

“You know that boy, he just needs to wallow for a couple of days and self-pity and shit before he gets his act together.”

Toni shook her head. “Well, he needs to learn to grow the fuck up and wallow for an hour instead.” Toni turned her attention ahead again, and suddenly her gaze met with dark eyes, on the pale face of the gorgeous redhead that Toni had been looking for. As soon as their gazes met, Toni tore hers away. “I’m splitting off here.”

“I guess I’ll see you at Fangs’ tomorrow?”

“Yep,” Toni confirmed with a nod. “See you later.” She made a beeline for a door off to her right, pushing it open and entering an old staircase. She quickly followed the steps down to the first floor, and then ducked behind the staircase, leaning against the wall. A few seconds later, she heard the door upstairs open, and heels clicking on the steps slowly. When they reached the landing, the redhead came around the corner and ducked behind the stairs as well. “Good afternoon.”

“Are you free tonight, or not?” Cheryl asked.

“I am,” Toni confirmed.

“Great, so I’ll come over at nine?”

Toni bit down on the inside of her lip. “Actually, my friend is crashing at my place for a while, so he’ll be there. Can we do your place?”

Cheryl’s dark eyes narrowed in frustration. “You know that’s not an option.”

“I know, I know,” Toni muttered, shaking her head. “I mean, we could go out—”

“Also not an option.”

Toni let out a breath. “I don’t know what to tell you, Cheryl.” Cheryl crossed her arms over her chest. “I would’ve told you last time if I’d known that my friend was gonna need a place to stay. Just, his rent spiked and—”

“It’s fine,” Cheryl interrupted. “I’ll figure something out.” She turned on her heel, and started walking off.

“Wait, for tonight?”

“No, Toni, I’m not a miracle worker,” Cheryl answered sharply. Toni let out a quiet sigh. To be honest, she’d been looking forward to the rendezvous, as she did every Thursday—and the occasional Tuesday. Toni recollected herself as Cheryl’s heels clicked back up the stairs, and then she headed for the door out to the first floor of the Fine Arts Building. Leaving through the exit, she started in the direction of the Science Building, where her mandatory science credit class—intro to biology for non-majors—was held.

As soon as she reached her lecture hall—early as usual—she settled into her seat and pulled out her phone.

**Messaging: Sweets**

**Toni – Hey, you wanna go to Fangs’ party tomorrow night?**

**Sweets– Sure, if there’s gonna be vodka.**

**Toni – It’s Fangs, of course there’ll be vodka.**

**Sweets– Then I’ll definitely be there.**

**Toni – Any chance you have plans tonight?**

**Sweets – Besides hopefully playing Call of Duty on your Xbox if that’s cool with you? Nope.**

Toni let out a puff of air in frustration, trying to think of how she could free up her apartment tonight.

**Messaging: Fangs**

**Toni – Hey dude, you been talking to Sweet Pea?**

**Fangs – Haven’t texted him since he told us what happened yesterday. Everything okay with him?**

**Toni – Yeah everything’s fine, but I kinda had plans tonight, and I don’t want to kick him out…**

**Fangs – Ooh, another one of your hookups, huh? How do you manage to get a booty call in the middle of the day? I guess it’s because you’re such a planner LOL.**

**Toni – Can you help me or not?**

**Fangs – I’ll text him.**

**Toni – 9-11p**

Toni smiled gratefully, and texted Sweet Pea back.

**Messaging: Sweets**

**Toni – Alright.**

**Sweets – Oh, actually, Fangs just asked if I wanted to come over and hang out tonight. Is it cool if I get back to your place kinda late?**

**Toni – Yeah, no problem at all. I’m usually up pretty late.**

**Sweets – Cool, thanks Tiny.**

**Toni – Of course!**

Toni was too proud of herself to even really feel bad about essentially kicking Sweet Pea out. It helped that he didn’t know he’d been kicked out for the night.

**Messaging: Fangs**

**Toni – You’re the best.**

**Fangs – Hey, I’m just honored to be the guy who gets to know that you are, in fact, still so sexually active even now, as a full-time college nerd.**

**Toni – I’ve been sexually active since I was fifteen.**

**Fangs – And I love knowing that you’ve never changed :D**

**Toni – Weirdo.**

**Fangs – Love you too!**

Toni let out a breath. Now all she needed to was run into Cheryl again. She didn’t have the redhead’s phone number—as per Cheryl’s request, unsurprisingly. For reasons that Toni could only really speculate about, their hookup arrangement followed a strict set of rules. Number one, they couldn’t go to Cheryl’s apartment, because one of her two roommates was almost always home. Number two, no text communication, because it would be too easy to get too friendly. That rule lead directly into rule number three, they couldn’t talk much about their lives—or else they’d get too attached. Number four, they weren’t to tell anyone, because there wasn’t really anything to tell.

And number five, which really just reiterated all of the other rules, was that this was _just_ sex. Which was totally fine with Toni, rule number two was really inconvenient in this moment. She glanced around her. About ten other people had filed into the lecture hall, their eyes all glued to their phones. The class was going to start in a few minutes, and in those few minutes, many more people would be coming in. Toni didn’t really have time to try and figure out where Cheryl’s next class was.

She let out a sigh. If she couldn’t figure out how to get in touch with Cheryl before she left campus, then she would definitely feel bad about asking Fangs to distract Sweet Pea for the night.

She managed to stop worrying about it during biology, thankfully, and she dutifully took notes and did not answer any questions. As soon as the professor got to the summary slide of the slideshow and started wrapping things up, Toni began to put her things away, and as soon as he said class was dismissed, she took off out the door.

Thankfully, her biology professor almost always finished lecturing early, so if Cheryl was in class somewhere, as long as it was a normal length class, she should be getting out in a few minutes.

Toni felt kind of stupid as she went back into the Fine Arts Building, climbing the stairs up to the second floor. The building didn’t connect to any others, so if Cheryl had gone upstairs instead of leaving through the first floor door, then she must have class somewhere on the second floor. Toni headed toward the lecture hall where her history of film class was, because that was in the direction that Cheryl was always walking when her path crossed Toni’s. As Toni reached that hallway, a few doors began to open up and people began spilling out of lecture halls. Toni leaned against the wall, hoping to catch a glimpse of that red hair somewhere among all of the people.

And finally she did. Cheryl came out a classroom a few doors away from where Toni stood, walking next to a Latina woman who was talking animatedly about something. They started walking in Toni’s direction, and Toni pushed herself away from the wall, starting to walk in the opposite direction.

Cheryl’s eyes were on her almost immediately, and Toni quirked an eyebrow up a little. As she walked past the redhead and her friend, she heard Cheryl say, “Hey, Veronica, I just remembered that I’m supposed to be meeting with Professor Stone—I have some questions about the class project. I’ll catch you in a few?”

“Sure,” the other girl—Veronica—replied, and then Toni became very aware of the presence of the redhead following her. Toni didn’t really know where to slip into, but she saw one of the women’s bathrooms coming up on her left, so she entered it. Someone was washing their hands, but other than that, it was empty.

Toni went and stood in front of the mirror, adjusting her pink and brown hair, and grabbing her tube of lip gloss out of her backpack. As she did, the door swung open, and Cheryl walked in. She stood in front of the other end of the mirror, pulling out a tube of bright red lipstick and touching up her lips. They waited for the other girl to finish washing her hands, drying them, and then as soon as she left the bathroom, Cheryl said, “Care to explain why you’re stalking me?”

“My place is empty from nine to eleven,” Toni answered, pocketing her lip gloss again and turning to look at Cheryl, who was not looking back at her.

“Well, look who’s the miracle worker,” Cheryl commented, and Toni couldn’t tell exactly what Cheryl’s tone of voice meant. That was pretty common, Cheryl was really hard to get a good read on. “So, I’ll be there at nine.”

“Great.”

Cheryl purposefully closed her lipstick so it made a loud click noise, and then she looked at Toni blankly. “Um, you came in first, you need to leave first.”

“It’s not like anyone is out there waiting for us,” Toni said with an eyeroll, but she made her way to the door anyway. “See you tonight, Cheryl.”

Toni didn’t have any more classes for the rest of the day—she’d had a third class in the morning, but she’d made sure to cap herself at three classes a day. Last semester she’d done four in one day, and could barely keep her eyes open at night.

Despite not having anywhere to be on campus, Toni didn’t want to go home, because she knew she would have a hard time working on homework with Sweet Pea staying with her. She loved him, he was her best friend after all, but he was not much of a studier, and he only had in-person classes on Monday and Wednesday, so he would be at her apartment all day.

So Toni headed for the library, found herself an empty table inside, and set up to work on her assignments.

Hours passed quickly, and when it was around seven, Toni finally packed up and headed out. Her apartment building was just a walk away of campus—about twenty minutes. It was nice to get some exercise on her way to campus every day, but the walk home when she was ready for dinner was never as fun.

Still, walking off campus with earbuds tucked into her ear, she took a deep breath of the chilly early spring air—polluted by the city of New York, of course—and found herself settle into a relaxed state as she walked the blocks back to her apartment building.

When she got there, Sweet Pea was still there, and it was almost seven-thirty.

“I was starting to think you weren’t coming home,” he said as she walked in. Toni just laughed a little, shaking her head as she dropped her backpack onto the kitchen counter and locked the apartment door behind her.

“Any luck finding apartments?” Toni asked.

“Nope,” Sweet Pea answered dejectedly. “How do you even afford this place?”

“I have a _very_ generous scholarship, remember?” Toni reminded him. “And the tiny campus of Gale University doesn’t have any on campus housing. Scholarship, plus the stipend I get, plus student loans, _plus_ the occasional tutoring job… that pretty much takes care of it all.”

“Why can’t I be as smart as you?”

Toni shrugged. “You hate school.”

“True. College is better than I expected though,” Sweet Pea admitted. “And I actually think I mechanical engineering a little bit now.”

“That’s great! Especially considering that you already declared it your major,” Toni teased him. She went over to her fridge and opened it up, looking for her Chinese takeout leftovers from the night before. They weren’t anywhere to be found. “Dude, did you eat my takeout leftovers?”

“Oh—uh… sorry.”

Toni let out a breath, grabbing some sliced sandwich meat and cheese instead. “It’s fine, just… I kinda have a strict food budget, okay?”

“Right, sorry. I know most of your money from school and loans and everything actually goes to paying for rent.” Toni nodded in confirmation as she grabbed a loaf of bread out of the cupboard that served as her pantry. “Won’t happen again. Is that place nearby though?”

“Yeah it’s on the block,” Toni answered, throwing a sandwich together.

“Cool.”

“So, you still going to Fangs’ tonight?”

“Yeah, I was planning on leaving pretty soon. He said he wanted to spend some time studying first. Never really took him for a studier, but I guess that’s how he manages to party all weekend… every weekend.” Sweet Pea shrugged. “Anyway, it’s not like I have anywhere to be early tomorrow. Hey, did you wanna come over to Fangs’ too?”

“Oh no,” Toni refused, “I have a lot of homework to do, actually.”

“Still? Weren’t you doing homework all day, isn’t that why you’re back so late?” Sweet Pea asked, lifting an eyebrow. Toni glared at him, and he raised his hands up in defense. “Okay, okay, sorry.”

“You’re one to talk anyway,” Toni said to him, “did you even do any homework all day?”

“I was looking for apartments!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Toni went around the counter of her kitchen. She didn’t have enough space for a dining table, but she did have two bar stools and a tiny bar coming off of her kitchen counter. She sat down with her food and started eating, taking out her phone and starting to flip through her socials.

A few minutes later, Sweet Pea grabbed his phone and wallet and keys—on which was the spare key that Toni had lent him for now—and said his goodbye as he left for Fangs. Toni finished up her meager dinner, and washed it down with a glass of water.

She spent the next hour cleaning up a little, organizing her school stuff at her desk for the weekend—since she didn’t have classes on Fridays. As it got closer to nine, she went out into the kitchen to grab the bottle of her favorite cheap red wine, and got out two glasses. She’d learned over the past few weeks that Cheryl liked _anything_ red—including wine. It was one of the few things she felt like she really knew about the redhead, given their no-real-conversation rule.

At exactly nine—Cheryl was nothing if not punctual—there was a knock at Toni’s door. Toni went to the door and opened it slowly, revealing Cheryl standing there in the same outfit she’d been wearing on campus earlier. Toni hadn’t gotten to take it in earlier, but she did now. Tight, high waisted black jeans, and a cropped red sweater. Her makeup was still flawless, bright red lipstick contrasting her pale white skin. Toni’s skin wasn’t light by any means, but next to Cheryl’s, it was considerably darker.

“Evening,” Toni greeted, stepping back to let Cheryl in. She turned around and grabbed the bottle of wine as she heard Cheryl close and lock the door behind her. “How are you?” Toni asked every time, even though she only ever got short answers in response.

“Fine,” Cheryl answered as expected. “Is that the same wine as last time?”

“Yep,” Toni answered, pouring two very full glasses and then closing up the bottle again and putting it away. By the time she was done, Cheryl already had the glass in hand, and was taking a sip from it, her eyes glued to Toni. “You like it?”

“It’s not bad, for a wine that obviously came from the under five dollars section.”

Toni rolled her eyes, wanting to defend her choice of alcohol, but knowing that Cheryl would consider that crossing their set boundary of personal discussion. Toni simply picked up her glass as well and took a slow drink from it, savoring the taste and keeping her eyes locked with Cheryl’s as well.

When Toni pulled the glass away from her lips, Cheryl tilted her head. “So, you going to keep standing there staring, or are we going to your bedroom?”

Toni gestured off toward her bedroom, and Cheryl turned pointedly, her heels clicking as she walked toward Toni’s bedroom, wine glass in hand. Toni followed, her eyes glued to that ass. She took another sip as they entered Toni’s bedroom. It wasn’t much, just her full sized bed, one nightstand, a plain dresser, and a small desk with a bookshelf on the wall above it. By the way Cheryl always acted, Toni was sure that she was used to much better, but she’d never commented on Toni’s plain apartment. Probably because that also crossed the boundary.

Cheryl took another long drink of wine, and then set the now half empty glass down on Toni’s nightstand, turning to face the pink haired girl. Toni followed suit, taking one more sip and then setting her glass down on her desk, before closing the door to her bedroom—just in case.

“You look really good in those pants, by the way,” Toni told Cheryl, approaching her slowly.

“I know,” Cheryl answered quietly, but not lacking any confidence, “now are you going to keep talking, or are you going to fuck me, Topaz?”

“Gladly,” Toni murmured, close enough now to land her hands on Cheryl’s hips, tilting her head up and joining their lips together. Cheryl kissed her back fervently, her long fingers tangling into Toni’s messy colored hair. Toni could already tell that the lip gloss and lipstick were forming a very messy mix, but she didn’t care.

She guided Cheryl down onto the bed, and the redhead kicked off her heels as their lips separated for a moment, heavy breaths filling the space between them. Toni pulled her shirt off, leaving her in her black lacy bra that she had begun wearing on Thursdays, and pushed Cheryl back against the pillows. She carefully grasped the bottom of Cheryl’s top and began to pull it up over her head. The first time she’d tried to undress Cheryl, the redhead had chewed her out for about thirty seconds, explaining that her clothes were far too delicate to be handled in such a way. Toni tried to be more careful with them now.

Once carefully removing it, she tossed it away without a care, and Cheryl didn’t care either, pulling Toni closer again. Their lips joined in another intense kiss, and Toni let her hands touch the soft, completely flawless skin of Cheryl’s midsection. When Cheryl’s hands found the clasp of Toni’s bra, unclipping it and letting it fall slack around her, Toni took that as her queue to lean back and tear it off, followed by quickly removing Cheryl’s as well. Both topless now, Toni pushed Cheryl all the way down onto the bed so she was flat below Toni. Those dark, intense eyes stared up at Toni, full of lust, as Cheryl breathed heavily. “What are you waiting for, Topaz?”

Toni suppressed a moan, ducking down and connecting her lips with Cheryl’s neck. She knew not to leave any hickeys, but that didn’t stop her from kissing along the redhead’s neck, down the valley between her breasts, and down to her stomach. She didn’t leave a single mark, aside from a bit of a trail of the lip gloss and lipstick combo that was all over her lips.

Reaching the top of Cheryl’s jeans, Toni unbuttoned them in a second, and carefully began to peel the tight pants off of the girl. Once they were removed, she grabbed the edges of Cheryl’s underwear and glanced up at the redhead quickly. Cheryl have her a needy nod, and Toni pulled the panties off, revealing Cheryl’s center, which was clearly already wet for her.

“Someone’s horny today,” Toni murmured, ducking down again to press kisses on the inside of Cheryl’s thighs.

“Obviously,” Cheryl tutted, although the slight whine in her tone was evident, and Toni chuckled lowly. Cheryl always wanted to be the boss—it was evident in all of her actions—but Toni had quickly learned that that was not really the case in bed. She would try to maintain her uncaring, full HBIC stature, but Toni could make her drop it completely.

“You better be good,” Toni whispered, “if you want me to touch you.” She blew gently against Cheryl’s warm center, and the redhead let out a barely audible whimper. “Did you hear me?”

“Yes,” Cheryl answered in a small voice, “fuck me, Toni.”

“That’s not a very polite way to ask…”

“ _Please_ fuck me,” Cheryl repeated. Toni lightly brought her teeth against the inside of Cheryl’s thigh, biting gently. Cheryl let out a moan. “ _Please_ , Toni, please, I need it…”

“What do you need?” Toni demanded, her mouth closer now to Cheryl’s center, the redhead definitely able to feel her breath against her center. “You need to be specific to get what you want, you know that.”

“I _need_ you to fuck me, Toni, _please_ fuck me,” Cheryl whimpered, the authoritative tone gone from her voice now. Toni grinned, and finally dragged her tongue through Cheryl’s wet folds, tasting her. Cheryl let out a sigh of relief, and then Toni brought her fingers to join her tongue against Cheryl’s center.

Her fingers slipped gently inside, and Cheryl let out a loud moan of pleasure. Toni moved her fingers in and out slightly, curling the tips of them a little as she flicked her tongue over Cheryl’s clit.

“Oh god, Toni,” Cheryl moaned, “please, I need to come, please.”

“You can be patient, can’t you, Cheryl?”

Cheryl whimpered, her hand coming to Toni’s head and tangling into her hair, slightly pressing Toni’s head closer to her center. Toni chuckled a little, and picked up the pace of her fingers moving, reveling in the sound of Cheryl’s uneven breathing, interrupted by moans and gasps for air. Toni continued to tease Cheryl’s clit as well, and when she felt Cheryl’s thighs coming up to the sides of her head, squeezing slightly, she knew that the redhead was close. She curled her fingers precisely as they picked up speed even more, and pressed her tongue into Cheryl’s center. “Fuck!” Cheryl yelled out. “Oh my—fuck!”

As Cheryl hit her peak, and began to come down, Toni pulled her mouth away and caught her breath, licking her lips and looking up at the beautiful girl sprawled naked across her bed, her pale skin shining from a thin layer of sweat. When Cheryl’s dark eyes opened and landed on Toni, she asked, “What are you staring at?”

Toni didn’t answer, instead bringing her tongue back between Cheryl’s legs and very abruptly beginning to move her fingers again. Cheryl let out a loud gasp and then a deep moan, and within thirty seconds, she was climaxing again, her back arching and then collapsing into Toni’s sheets.

Now as Cheryl caught her bread, Toni sat up and slipped out of her pants and underwear, before straddling Cheryl’s pelvis and looking down at the redhead.

“You want something, Topaz?” Cheryl murmured, lifting an eyebrow at her.

“Yeah, I think you owe me something…”

Cheryl smirked, grasping Toni’s thighs and pulling herself up so that Toni was essentially seated in her lap. “I guess so…” Her grip on Toni’s thigh tightened a little, and she quickly turned, flipping Toni onto her back. Toni let out a slight gasp as Cheryl brought their lips together. Her hand slid down Toni’s body, her manicured nails—which were much shorter than they were the first time Toni met Cheryl—dragging lightly against Toni’s skin, giving her goosebumps. Toni let out a quiet moan, and Cheryl’s fingers came to meet her center, sliding through her wet folds and over her throbbing clit. Toni’s breath picked up, and she pulled her lips away from Cheryl’s to get enough air. Cheryl brought her lips to Toni’s neck as two of her fingers slipped inside of Toni, her thumb staying focused on her clit.

“Fuck, Cheryl,” Toni moaned, grinding her hips down against Cheryl’s fingers, which pushed deeper into her. They moved quickly and expertly inside of her, and soon she knew she was getting close, and she let out a loud gasp as she felt herself orgasm. Cheryl didn’t let up as Toni hit it, and Toni felt it all through her body until, finally, Cheryl pressed her thumb right against her clit as her fingers curled pleasantly, and Toni hit her peak, then relaxing into her bed. “Holy shit.”

Cheryl hummed in agreement, leaving her fingers inside Toni for a moment as her breathing leveled out, and then gently pulling them out. Cheryl rolled onto her back next to Toni, who glanced at her. She always wondered was Cheryl thought about after sex—she always looked distant for a few seconds, and it made Toni want to ask if she was okay, or ask what was wrong.

“Was it okay?” she asked instead, and Cheryl nodded, looking at her with a very small smile. The redhead didn’t truly smile very often, so Toni couldn’t help but smile when she did get one from the girl. Cheryl sat up and reached for her wine glass, taking a few sips. “Look, I’m glad I could make this work here tonight, but I can’t make any promises about next week. If I start sending my friend out every Tuesday and Thursday night, he’s going to get suspicious.”

“When is your friend going to find somewhere else to stay?” Cheryl asked, her voice a little cold.

“Hey, it’s not his fault he had to move out of his place,” Toni bit back, “he’s looking for a place. Anyway, it’s not like I can tell him that I want him to leave so I can have the place free for fucking you a couple times a week.”

Cheryl let out a breath. “Sorry. You’re right. Well, we will figure something else out.”

“Something else?” Toni inquired, sitting up as Cheryl turned to look at her. “Do you have a car or something? Because I can’t really think of anything else.”

Cheryl looked like she had an idea, but whatever it was, she didn’t say it. “I’ll figure something out, and when I do, I’ll let you know.”

“You know that would be a lot easier if we had a way to speak to each other more than two times a week,” Toni said, her attempt to get Cheryl to agree to breaking one of their rules. She tried and failed to convince Cheryl to exchange phone numbers every time they met up.

Cheryl shook her head, just as she’d done the last time. “It’s better this way,” she insisted. “Plus, don’t you enjoy our staircase meetings? Don’t they make you feel… risqué?”

Toni laughed a little. “I guess. Whatever. Let me know whatever you come up with on Tuesday.”

“I will,” Cheryl agreed, standing up from the bed and wiping at some of the lipstick marks on her body. She started to pull on her clothes, and Toni reluctantly got up as well to put her own clothes back on. They dressed in silence, and then Cheryl downed the rest of her wine. “Thank you for the wine.”

“Of course,” Toni replied, as they walked out of her bedroom. “I guess I’ll see you Tuesday.”

“Mmhmm.”

“Bye.”

“Bye, Topaz.”

And with that Cheryl left Toni’s apartment, and Toni locked the door and headed for her bathroom, ready to take a shower and turn in for the night. She was definitely not regretting having gotten Fangs to distract Sweet Pea for the evening.


	2. Hidden Hallway

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl agrees to go to a party with her roommates, and runs into the last person she expected to see, Toni.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello! Happy Monday! Y'all showered me with comments in the past 24 hours, and I have decided that I shall shower y'all with another chapter!!  
> Thank you for all the positive feedback on chapter one! I'm glad to hear that you all are excited for this story, and I appreciate you all taking time to read! It's going to be a fun ride, I think. It was a lot of fun to write :)
> 
> Enjoy chapter two! xx

“Morning, sleepy head,” Veronica chimed brightly from in front of the stove as Cheryl padded out of the hallway from her bedroom on Friday morning. “You slept awhile, huh?”

“It’s Friday,” Cheryl defended, “and all I have today is rehearsal at two.”

“I know, I know,” Veronica said with a laugh, “I’m just teasing you. Late night studying again?”

Cheryl nodded, brushing some hair out of her face as she walked into the kitchen of the big apartment. “What are you making?”

“Fried eggs—you want a couple?”

“Please,” Cheryl answered with a nod, going to the fridge and opening it to grab her premade cold-brew coffee out.

“Oh, Betty ran to the grocery store,” Veronica told her, “she said to text her if you need anything.” Cheryl nodded as she poured herself a glass of coffee, then making her way to the couch in the living room an falling into the couch. The truth was, after spending the evening at Toni’s apartment the night before, she actually had come home and worked on some homework, after showering and cleaning herself up of course. She had really needed the rendezvous, though. This semester felt so much more stressful for some reason, and she found that hooking up with Toni was one of the few releases she could really give her body. “Hey, you want to go to a party tonight?”

“What party?” Cheryl asked, sipping her coffee as she sent her other roommate, Betty, a few requests from the grocery store.

“There’s a few happening,” Veronica answered. “I know one of them is at Chuck’s apartment.”

Cheryl made a noise of disgust. “No thank you.”

“Okay, well that’s the one that Archie and Reggie are planning on going to.”

“Your two ex-boyfriends that you for some reason still like to party with?” Cheryl asked dryly.

“Hey, no need for the sass,” Veronica insisted. “I may have broken up with them but that doesn’t mean I don’t like the sex every now and then. Not all of us are so okay with being practically celibate during college.”

Cheryl rolled her eyes. “What other parties are there?”

“I know some of the theater majors are having a party,” Veronica offered, “but I have a feeling there’s going to be less drinking and more gameplaying at that one. Which would be fun if we were close with any of them, but…”

“Right,” Cheryl agreed. “So do you have any options that are actually viable?” Veronica chuckled as she plated four eggs between two plates. She walked into the living area with both of them and two forks and passed one to Cheryl. “Thanks.”

“Betty said she heard some guys in her rhetoric class talking about a party, and when they noticed her listening they invited her,” Veronica said, “could be a good option. New people to meet.”

“In her _rhetoric_ class?” Cheryl asked. “Why is Betty taking rhetoric right now anyway? How come she didn’t get it done last year? Probably those guys are freshmen.”

“So what?” Veronica asked. “We’re all adults, Cheryl. It’s not like freshmen in college don’t know how to throw a party.” Cheryl shrugged. “Come on, you shot down Chuck’s party, don’t shoot down this one too. We don’t even know who’s going to be there.”

“Chuck is an asshole,” Cheryl stated flatly.

“Well I know that, but he always has booze.”

“We can go to the freshman party,” Cheryl gave in. “But I’m only going because school is stressing me out so much this semester, and I could use a drink.”

Veronica grinned. “Maybe you’ll find a freshman to hook up with while we’re there.” Cheryl rolled her eyes. She continued eating her eggs and sipping her coffee. Veronica finished eating before her, and then hopped up and went to put her dishes in the dishwasher. “Alright, well. I need to go, I’m meeting up with a group to work on a project.”

“Have fun with that.”

“Meet you back here at seven to go to the party?” Veronica asked, and Cheryl nodded halfheartedly. “Great! Have a good rehearsal later.”

“Thanks. Bye, Ronnie.”

“Bye, Cher!”

Veronica left the apartment, locking the door behind her and leaving Cheryl alone in the big space. She relaxed into the couch and finished her breakfast, reveling in this moment of utter calm before her day really began.

Multiple hours later found Cheryl on campus walking to the Gale Theater, where her musical rehearsal was. This was her second semester to perform in the semesterly musical, and this semester it was Urinetown. She was playing Penelope Pennywise, and although the first name of the character was the same as Cheryl’s own horrid mother, the character was opposite anything Cheryl had ever thought she might play. She’d rather play one of the few characters making up the rich people of the play, but those parts were all smaller, and she’d been good enough to get one of the main characters as a sophomore, despite most of the major rolls being held by seniors. So she was excited in spite of the costume she knew she would have to wear for the real performances.

“Hey, Cheryl!” one of the other girls—a sweet, talkative senior named Margaret who was playing Little Sally—greeted as Cheryl walked into the Theater. “How’s your Friday going?”

“It’s fine,” Cheryl answered with a small smile. “Yours?”

“Better now. I love coming to Friday rehearsals, because I’m not already worn out from school all day.”

“Hey, Cher!” another voice called—Josie. Josie McCoy was one of Cheryl’s sort-of friends, and she was playing Hope Cladwell. As a music major, Josie wasn’t as interested in musical theater as Cheryl was, but she loved Urinetown and had really wanted to be a part of it. She was an incredible singer too, which was what landed her the role of Hope. She and Cheryl were the only sophomores cast as major characters.

“Hey,” Cheryl greeted her politely. “How was your week?”

“Oh it was fine,” Josie answered with a shrug. “Classes have been kind of boring. I’m taking the last of my core requirements. None of them are interesting.”

“Happy Friday, folks!” Professor Stone called out as he walked onto the stage, interrupting all the conversation happening amongst the students. “We’ve been getting a lot of practice with the music for Act One, so today we’re going to try and do a brief run through of the beginning of Act One. So, I need my Little Sally, Officer Lockstock, Penelope Pennywise, Bobby Strong, and the Poor up here. Everyone else go ahead and stay in the house for feedback.”

With that, Cheryl gave Josie a smile and headed up to the stage.

* * *

Rehearsal was a long three and a half hours, with one half hour break during it, meaning that Cheryl didn’t leave the Theater until six. On her way off of campus, she stopped by the Student Union to buy herself a premade sandwich for dinner, which she ate as she walked off campus to hail a cab. She made it back to her apartment twenty minutes till seven, and found that Betty and Veronica were both back at the apartment.

“Hey, Cheryl,” Betty greeted, “how was rehearsal?”

“Good,” Cheryl answered. “I’m really glad to have a real part this semester.”

“Rising through the ranks,” Veronica chimed happily, “that’s my girl.”

“Let me just freshen up and then I’ll be ready to go,” Cheryl told her friends, walking down the hallway to her room and disappearing inside. She changed into tight red pants and a black mesh top with long sleeves, that had flowers embroidered throughout it. She would be cold while outside, but parties tended to be full of warm bodies. She touched up her makeup, fluffed out her hair a little, and changed into heels. She tended to dress more comfortably going to rehearsal, since it was a lot of standing and bright lights and just not a comfortable situation to be in heels and tight pants for.

When she was ready, she made her way back into the living room, her small purse, which held her wallet, keys, and phone, slung over her shoulder. “So, where’s this party?”

“A few blocks away,” Betty answered. “Should we get a cab?”

“Let’s walk there,” Veronica suggested, “since we’re gonna need a cab back later.”

“Sounds good to me,” Cheryl agreed. The three of them left the apartment and the building and started their walk.

“Did you see Josie today?” Veronica asked Cheryl, to which the redhead nodded. “You should’ve invited her to the party!”

“It slipped my mind.”

“Oh come on, Cheryl. I thought you said you were over what happened last semester,” Veronica said with a frown.

“I am,” Cheryl said unconvincingly.

“Aren’t you and Josie still friends?” Betty asked.

“Yes,” Cheryl answered, “but that doesn’t mean we’re close enough to invite each other out to parties anymore.”

“Hey, it’s your call,” Veronica assured her, “but you and Josie used to be really close before everything that happened.”

Cheryl shook her head. “Can we not talk about this tonight? I thought you wanted me to have fun?”

“Cheryl’s right,” Betty agreed, moving so that she stood between the two girls. “It’s Friday, we’re officially four weeks into our second semester of sophomore year.”

“College creeps by so slowly with you counting the weeks,” Cheryl groaned.

Veronica chuckled. “She has a point, Betty.” Betty just rolled her eyes, charging ahead of the other girls.

“Come on, we need to get to that alcohol faster.”

They got to the apartment building where the party was, and Betty hastily grabbed her phone to find the apartment number. Loud music was coming from up the stairs though, so they gravitated toward it, and then Betty found the apartment number. There was a sign on the door that said “Come on in, it’s open,” which Cheryl thought was highly irresponsible, but regardless, they followed the instructions. As soon as they opened the door, the loud music filled their ears even more.

“Damn,” Veronica said as they looked around the party. There was some kind of strobe light on one end of the room that was flashing bright light throughout the mostly dark apartment. The place was a studio it seemed like, probably one where the couch folded out to be a bed, and though it wasn’t very big, it wasn’t too small. There were probably between twenty and thirty people in the whole space, which wasn’t a huge party, but for these tiny New York apartments most people had, it definitely was a good sized party.

“Let’s find some beer?” Betty suggested, and they started making their way through the many bodies radiating heat as they danced and drank and yelled over the music. When they reached the kitchen, they saw many types of alcohol sitting out on the counter, available for the taking.

“Thank god,” Cheryl muttered when she saw tequila and plastic shot glasses. She quickly poured herself a shot and took it back so fast. “I’m going to need that.”

Veronica laughed at the redhead and poured herself a shot too. “I think you have the right idea, Cher.”

“Hm, well I guess I won’t make you take a shot alone,” Cheryl said with a smirk as she poured herself one more, and they both took theirs back. Betty was shaking her head at them.

“I’ll stick with _beer_.”

“Ooh, because one of the guys who invited you was hot, right?” Veronica asked, twitching up an eyebrow.

“What?” Cheryl asked in surprise. “You left out that detail—we’re here so Betty can hook up with someone?”

“No!” Betty defended. “Well, I mean yes he was hot and I wouldn’t mind getting to know him… but I’m here to party same as you.”

Cheryl shook her head, unbelieving. “Whatever you say, Cooper. And I’m not here to party, I’m here strictly to get _drunk_.”

“What’s the difference?”

Cheryl couldn’t answer Betty’s question, though, because suddenly her gaze had landed on a girl across the room, with flowing brown and pink hair, wearing fishnets and high waisted shorts, a tight white shirt and a purple flannel. Toni.

“Earth to Cheryl,” Veronica said, drawing Cheryl’s gaze back to her friends. “You okay?”

“Sorry, yeah,” Cheryl answered, although she was now instantly distracted. Every time she saw Toni, it was like her entire body woke up, pleading for sex with the other girl. That’s why it was good that the only time they saw each other happened to also be their regular hook up day. Cheryl had never seen Toni at a party before. Was she a freshman? Cheryl forced the question out of her mind, though, because she wasn’t supposed to know much about her. It was one of the rules, the rules that kept Cheryl from developing feelings for the girl. And while she may not have any feelings, the lust was definitely there, and she suddenly felt beyond horny.

“Well, I say it’s time to go meet some new people, hm?” Veronica said with a grin. “Betty, do you see the guy anywhere?”

“I think he was near the door when we came in…”

“Alright, let’s go!”

“I’m going to hang back here,” Cheryl told her friends, “and drink a little more first.”

“I better not come back and find you wasted,” Veronica teased. “Come find us soon, and text us if anything happens.”

“I will,” Cheryl promised. Her friends hurried off to the other side of the apartment. Cheryl’s gaze hopped back over to Toni, but she quickly realized that she had no idea what she was doing. If her friends saw her interacting with Toni, they would probably just think that this was their first meeting, but then Veronica might notice Toni if she ever passed her in the Fine Arts Building.

So Cheryl just poured herself a red solo cup of beer and leaned against the wall, looking at the party around her. Her gaze kept landing on Toni, who was standing in a group of two guys and two girls, and they all looked pretty close, talking and laughing together as they drank. She wondered if one of them was the friend crashing at Toni’s apartment and who was the reason that Cheryl needed to think of a new plan for hooking up with Toni during the week.

“Hey Fangs!” someone called loudly from somewhere in the room, causing one of the guys next to Toni to turn and look around. Another guy appeared from the crowd and asked loudly, “You have rooftop access in this place right?”

“Yeah—just don’t take any music up there or my landlord will kill me,” Fangs answered, and the guy grinned. Multiple people started to file out of the apartment to presumably go up to the rooftop.

“Cheryl!” Veronica called suddenly, from across the room. “You coming up?” As Cheryl glanced over at Veronica, she could suddenly _feel_ Toni’s eyes landing on her—likely having heard Veronica call out to her.

“Yeah,” Cheryl answered, pushing off of the wall and walking toward Veronica, not sparing Toni a glance even though she could feel the girl’s eyes on her. Cheryl followed Veronica and Betty out of the apartment and up a few flights of stairs, until they reached the door to the roof. It was a huge empty space, other than some clotheslines that were hanging and what looked like some mechanical equipment by the stair bulkhead. “There’s nothing up here.”

“But the fresh air is nice, and we have our drinks already,” Veronica pointed out. “Come on, let’s go find those guys we were just with…” Betty nodded toward them, and the two of them hurried after said guys. Cheryl just rolled her eyes and leaned against the wall next to the door. The air was cold against her skin, easily sneaking through the mesh of her shirt. After a few minutes of standing there alone, she decided that she was not in the mood for this.

**Messaging: Betty and Ronnie**

**Cheryl – I’m going back down to the party apartment, it’s too cold up here.**

After sending the text, Cheryl walked back down the multiple flights of stairs and to the apartment door with the sign welcoming people to come in. Walking into the studio apartment, there were only about ten people still scattered around, with most everyone else having gone up to the roof. Someone had turned the strobe light off and the music down.

Feeling out of place suddenly, Cheryl made a beeline for the alcohol, acting like she was back down here just to refill her cup. As she did so, she glanced over to where Toni and her friends were standing. Toni’s gaze immediately met hers, and the pink haired girl blinked once, and then said something to her friends, before walking toward the apartment door. As she opened the door, she glanced back at Cheryl purposefully.

Cheryl felt heat building up inside of her. _She_ was usually the one who got Toni’s attention for a meeting, except for Thursday when she’d met Toni in the bathroom. Cheryl didn’t know what Toni could possibly be wanting to talk to her about, but Cheryl gave in, chugging down the beer she’d just poured, tossing the cup in the trash, and starting back to the door. Upon leaving the apartment, she heard feet going down the stairs, and she followed the sound. When she reached the first floor of the apartment building, Toni was walking down the first floor hallway. Cheryl furrowed her eyebrows and followed the girl down the hallway. It turned at the end, and when Cheryl reached the end, Toni was standing there, leaning against one of the walls. The hallway ended behind Toni, with a door to a supply closet.

“What?” Cheryl asked the girl.

“I was wondering if _you’re_ stalking _me_ now?”

“How was I supposed to know that you would be at this party?” Cheryl demanded.

“This party is being hosted by one of my best friends,” Toni answered, “but I guess you wouldn’t know that.”

“My roommate has a crush on someone who’s here,” Cheryl explained lamely, “and I wanted to drink. I didn’t know you were a freshman.”

“You’re not?” Toni asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“No.”

“What’s the big deal anyway? I’m nineteen, it’s not like I’m a kid. This isn’t high school,” Toni said in amusement. Cheryl rolled her eyes. Maybe Toni was right, but Cheryl wouldn’t say that.

“Is that all?”

“Oh come on, I thought you liked our _staircase meetings_ ,” Toni teased, referencing Cheryl’s question from the night before. Cheryl lamely glanced behind her.

“The staircase is all the way back there.”

Toni shrugged. “Whatever. You didn’t look like you were having fun.” Cheryl just blinked, and Toni glanced over Cheryl’s body slowly, her eyes clearly soaking up Cheryl’s tight fitted and slightly revealing outfit.

“Well then, Topaz, I hope you were planning on helping me have more fun?” Cheryl asked, quirking up an eyebrow.

Toni smirked, reaching out and grabbing Cheryl’s waist, pulling her close and connecting their lips. Cheryl hummed into the kiss as Toni broke her tongue through Cheryl’s lips, not wasting any time. Toni turned them and pressed Cheryl against the wall firmly. Cheryl felt her legs get weak as she felt Toni’s hands untuck Cheryl’s mesh shirt and her fingers brushing against her skin.

Toni broke their kiss and her mouth was about to land on Cheryl’s neck, but Cheryl quickly said, “No, don’t—lipstick.”

“Fuck, right,” Toni murmured, realizing that some of Cheryl’s lipstick was smeared on her lips. The last thing Cheryl needed was for her friends to wonder why she had lipstick spots on her neck. Toni let out a huff, pressing her lips to Cheryl’s again as her hands unbuttoned Cheryl’s red pants. Cheryl’s body had been ready for this since she laid eyes on Toni ten minutes earlier, so as Toni’s fingers slid past her underwear and pressed into her folds, Cheryl let out a needy moan. She pressed her weight entirely into the wall as Toni began to fuck her up against it. Her legs were weak, but Toni’s left arm was helping to support her, her left hand holding Cheryl’s ass as her right worked against her center. Cheryl leaned her head back, her breathing quickening.

“Fuck, Toni,” Cheryl moaned, her hands coming to Toni’s shoulders and then transitioning behind her head, her fingers tangling into Toni’s soft, colored hair. Toni picked up her pace, and Cheryl practically forgot where she was, so focused on how good it felt to have Toni’s fingers inside of her for the _third_ time that week. And soon she was getting really close, biting down on her lower lip to keep herself as quiet as she could as her body finally tensed with her orgasm, before then relaxing all at once. “Fuck…”

“Good?” Toni asked her, and Cheryl just nodded.

“You’ll have to return the favor next week,” Toni told her in a low voice, “because I told my friends I was going up to the roof, and I don’t want to be gone too long, otherwise they’ll realize I’m not up there.”

“Right.” Cheryl was still catching her breath, but Toni took her fingers out from between Cheryl’s thighs. She wiped them on the inside of her flannel, and then looked at Cheryl.

“You sure you’re good?”

“I’m good,” Cheryl answered. She usually got kind of quiet after sex, and Toni almost always asked her some kind of question to make sure she was alright after. Cheryl wouldn’t admit it, but she appreciated the thought.

“Cool. So. I’ll see you Tuesday? You’re supposed to have worked a miracle by then, right?”

“Right. See you Tuesday.” Toni gave her a small smirk, and then turned the corner and started back down the hallway. Cheryl waited a minute to follow, tucking her shirt in again and buttoning her pants. That was the first time she’d ever had sex somewhere so… exposed. Sure, it was at the back of a hallway that no one would’ve come down at this time, but still. It felt dangerous, but it was definitely hot.

Cheryl was pretty sure that she had a good idea to solve her and Toni’s problem.

Smirking a little to herself, Cheryl started back down the hallway and up to the roof. When she got there, she saw Betty and Veronica talking to a couple of guys by the stone wall that surrounded the roof. Not knowing what else to do, Cheryl joined her friends.

“Hey, Cher!” Veronica greeted brightly. “This is Brett and Ash.”

“Nice to meet you,” Cheryl said flatly to the guys. “I think I might go home.”

“Already?” Betty asked with a frown.

“I’m two shots and a beer and a half in,” Cheryl answered, “and if I’m going to get anymore drunk, I’d like to be near my bed.”

“Okay, well we’ll go with you,” Veronica insisted.

“You don’t have—”

“No, no,” Betty agreed quickly, “we’ll come with. Sorry guys.”

“Wait,” one of the guys said, “can we get—”

“See you around, boys,” Veronica interrupted, looping her arms with Cheryl’s and Betty’s and starting toward the stairs.

“I didn’t realize you wanted rescuing,” Cheryl said as soon as they were inside the staircase.

“They were hot, but after about ten minutes of talking to them…” Betty shuddered. “Yeah, no thanks.”

“Don’t worry, Betts,” Veronica said brightly, “we will find you a great hook up eventually. And you too, Cher.”

Cheryl tried not to snicker at the fact that she literally had just had a hook up. Of course, she would never tell that to her friends. “Let’s get home and get more drunk.”

“Agreed!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, in case you all couldn't tell... there's gonna be a lot of sex in this story. In fact, I think there is a total of 1 chapter in this 20 chapter story that doesn't have sex in it... and that might not even be true, all 20 chapters might have a smut scene lol. This was the most smut I've ever written in one story, y'all. I hope that's okay will all of you ;D
> 
> So life has been crazy! Hit me up on Twitter @BrittzandTana if you feel like it, I haven't really been tweeting much about life on there recently but I'm always down to chat in DMs or tweets :) Let me know how you all have been doing in this crazy time. <3 Stay safe everyone. I'll see you soon!


	3. How It Started

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashback to the first Tuesday of the semester, when Toni and Cheryl first met...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey, happy Wednesday everyone! Seems as good a day as ever for chapter 3, right?  
> So this chapter is a flashback to fill you in on how Choni met each other, and first hooked up!   
> I'm so happy that you all have been enjoying this story, your comments are making me very very happy and I appreciate them all so much! Enjoy chapter 3!

_It was the first Tuesday of the semester—aka the second day of the semester—and Toni walked out of her history of film class feeling good. She was so excited for the class, it was going to be full of stuff that she’d always wanted to learn about. Peaches, though, wasn’t necessarily as enthusiastic._

_“It’s cool and all, but I’d rather just learn how to do the things, not how they were invented,” she’d mumbled during class._

_Now they walked out of the classroom together and Peaches looked at her phone. “Okay, so Tuesdays I have that writing class… I think it’s on the other side of this building, on the first floor? I’m gonna go find it. I’ll see you later?”_

_“Definitely,” Toni answered with a nod, and the two of them split up. She had to get to her intro to biology class—a class she was far less excited for than the history of film. As she walked down the hallway, she looked for the nearest staircase, but as she walked, her arm bumped into someone else’s, and suddenly a few books crashed to the ground between them. Toni turned immediately to see a stunning redhead looking the ground in shock. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry.”_

_“Save it,” the girl snapped, bending down and picking up her stuff. “And watch where you’re walking.”_

_Toni blinked, surprised at how harsh the girl sounded, and also at how quickly the redhead turned on her heel, her books back in hand, and started off the way she was headed. Toni shook her head slowly, looking around again and finally spotting the staircase down to the first floor._

_Later that night was a start of semester reception for the Fine Arts Program. Toni had gone to the one the previous semester, but she was more excited to go this time. It was where lots of special events for the semester were announced, as well as auditions for the musical, plays, and other things. Peaches didn’t want to go, so Toni was going to be there alone tonight, but she didn’t care._

_It was held in the Gale Theater, and when Toni walked into it a few minutes before seven, she found it already pretty packed. She slipped into one of the back rows and took an empty seat. When everyone had settled, and the clock struck seven, the sit down part of the reception began._

_Multiple professors spoke during this part, including Professor West—who taught Toni’s history of film class and was also the head of the film club—and Professor Stone—the professor in charge of the musicals. They announced audition dates and club meeting dates, and all the other relevant information. And then they dismissed everyone into the Fine Arts Building Lobby, where some free pizza had been set out. Another reason Toni had come to this event all by herself._

_She ventured into the lobby of the building with everyone else, grabbing herself two slices of pizza and leaning against the wall to eat as she glanced around all of the other people who had attended the reception. She wasn’t looking for anyone—she barely knew anyone, after all—but she did notice someone all of the sudden. The redhead from earlier, who she’d run into. She was standing next to another girl, who was talking happily and who the redhead didn’t look all to comfortable standing next to._

_Toni found herself staring at the two of them, wondering who they were—and the redhead specifically. She was gorgeous, her long legs in tight jeans. Her ass looked so good in such tight pants. Her hair, too, was so soft looking. And those eyes. They were so dark and captivating. She wore red lipstick, complementing her hair of course. Toni realized that she was biting the inside of her lip, and she forced herself to relax and look away._

_A minute later, though, Toni looked up to see that the other girl had walked off, leaving the redhead there alone. Toni took in a breath, realizing now was her chance to approach her. She didn’t even know what she was going to say until she was standing there, with those dark eyes focused on her. “Hey,” she said kind of awkwardly, “sorry I just saw you and wanted to apologize for knocking that stuff out of your hand earlier.”_

_“Better late than never I guess,” the redhead snapped._

_Toni let out a puff of air. “Wow.”_

_She turned around, no longer interested in this conversation, but then the girl suddenly said, “I guess… I didn’t give you any time to apologize before.” Toni stopped and turned again._

_“You think?”_

_“What’s your name?”_

_“Toni Topaz. You?”_

_“Cheryl.”_

_“Cheryl…?”_

_“Blossom,” Cheryl answered. She was looking at Toni curiously now, but Toni couldn’t really read her expression._

_“Did you enjoy the reception?” Toni asked._

_“Mmhmm.”_

_“That’s good…”_

_“You?”_

_“Yeah, it was cool.”_

_Cheryl’s gaze dropped down, and she gave Toni an obvious onceover. When their gazes met again, Toni lifted an eyebrow. “Why’d you come over here, Topaz?”_

_“Oh, I saw you talking to some other girl, and you didn’t look very comfortable so I wanted to make sure you were okay—plus I owed you an apology, obviously.”_

_“Right.”_

_Toni nodded slowly, and realized that the conversation seemed to be over. Not wanting to seem awkward, she said, “Well… anyway, I guess I should go. Have a good evening.” Toni gave Cheryl a nod and then turned around, walking off. She finished off her pizza quickly, tossing the plate in the trash, and left the building._

_She was less than four feet out the door before she heard the door open behind her and the fast clicking of heels. Suddenly, Cheryl was standing next to her._

_“You going home?” Cheryl asked, surprising Toni._

_“Yeah.”_

_“And then what are you doing?”_

_Toni furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, stopping in her tracks to face Cheryl. “Um… I’m not sure what you mean.”_

_“I mean,” Cheryl said lowly, “I saw you staring at me before you came over to talk to me, and I’m free all night.”_

_Toni lifted an eyebrow, realizing now what Cheryl was asking. “I have a feeling you don’t wanna walk twenty minutes in those heels.”_

_“I’ll call us a cab.”_

_“Deal.”_

_They didn’t talk during the walk or the cab ride, and not even on the walk up to Toni’s apartment. But their eyes kept locking, and Toni could practically see the lust in Cheryl’s gaze. As soon as they walked in, Cheryl asked, “You live alone?”_

_“Yep.”_

_“Good.”_

_The door closed, and apparently that was their cue, their lips coming together instinctively. Toni had no idea how they’d gotten to this point, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. It was the second day of the semester, and somehow here she was, making out with a super sexy, beautiful woman._

_“Bedroom?” Cheryl muttered against her lips. Not breaking their physical contact, Toni guided Cheryl toward her bedroom. Toni’s hands began to wander Cheryl’s body over her clothes, and then Cheryl husked, “Take them off.” Toni obeyed, gripping the bottom of her top and pulling up aggressively. “Shit!” Cheryl exclaimed suddenly, “This is expensive, you can’t just yank it!”_

_“You told me to take it off!”_

_“Yeah,_ take _it off, don’t_ tear _it off.”_

_“Oh my god, seriously?”_

_Cheryl pulled away from Toni, grabbing her own top and carefully pulling it up over her head, revealing a black bra underneath. It stood out boldly against her pale, completely unmarred skin. “Easy enough, right?” Cheryl asked firmly._

_“Yeah, yeah,” Toni agreed with an eyeroll, bringing her hands to Cheryl’s abdomen and pressing their lips together again. Cheryl grabbed at Toni’s shirt, and Toni broke away to let the woman peel her top off of her. Toni’s hands grabbed Cheryl’s boobs over her bra, squeezing satisfyingly and enjoying the little moan Cheryl let out._

_Cheryl reached down to her own jeans and was suddenly unbuttoning them and stepping backwards toward the bed. She pulled the pants down and off of herself, stepping out of them and sitting on the end of Toni’s bed, lifting a perfectly sculpted, red eyebrow. “You coming?”_

_Toni didn’t hesitate, approaching Cheryl as she started to take off her own pants. When they were gone, she straddled Cheryl’s lap, pressing her lips to the girl’s neck. She started to suck a little on her skin, and Cheryl moaned, and then gently pulled her neck away._

_“No marks,” Cheryl said, sounding a little breathless._

_Toni pushed Cheryl down flat onto the bed. The redhead’s pupils were blown, her hair sprawled around her. She only wore her lacy black bra and matching underwear. “I’m gonna take these off,” Toni said, and Cheryl nodded in approval as Toni reached underneath Cheryl for the clasp, undoing it and tossing the bra off of the bed. She then carefully pulled Cheryl’s underwear off, discarding it as well._

_Cheryl scooted up the bed a little so her head was resting on the pillow. “Are you going to fuck me or not?”_

_“You’re pretty bossy for someone who wants_ me _to fuck_ you _.”_

_She didn’t give Cheryl a chance to answer her, though, because she was immediately on top of the girl again, her hand falling between Cheryl’s thighs. Cheryl let out a little gasp as Toni’s fingers slid through her folds, and Toni bit down on the inside of her lip. She gently slid her fingers inside of Cheryl, getting a deep moan in response._

_She picked up her pace from there, her thumb working against Cheryl’s clit while two fingers moved in and out of Cheryl steadily. The woman’s breathing was uneven and shallow now, and she had her red stained bottom lip between her teeth as she let out little sounds of desperation and pleasure. Toni felt herself getting wet just watching Cheryl as she started to get close._

_“Fuck, don’t stop,” Cheryl pleaded, her eyes squeezed shut. Toni smirked a little, but obeyed the request, picking up her pace and curling her fingers, hoping Cheryl would like that. She did, apparently, because almost instantly, she let out a cry of pleasure, clearly hitting her climax, and then collapsed against the sheets, her breathing heavy. Toni gently pulled her fingers out of the girl, wiping them off on her sheets and making a mental note to wash them in the morning._

_Cheryl turned her head to look at Toni, who had settled onto the bed next to her. “I would return the favor,” Cheryl admitted, “but I wasn’t really expecting to do this tonight, and… well, I’m sure you’d rather I not.” She held up her right hand, and Toni saw her long, manicured nails._

_“I guess you owe me a raincheck,” Toni murmured._

_Cheryl let out a breath. “No, this shouldn’t happen again.”_

_Toni lifted an eyebrow. “Do you typically initiate one night stands after university events?”_

_“No,” Cheryl answered flatly, “but I’m not new to one night stands.”_

_“Alright, whatever.”_

_Cheryl looked at Toni in confusion. “Really? You’re not going to fight me on that?”_

_“I just met you, and for the record, you were a little bit of a bitch to me earlier today.”_

_“Right.”_

_Toni shrugged._

_Cheryl let out a breath. “Maybe I_ can _return the favor for you sometime.”_

_“I’m not trying to pressure you into anything,” Toni insisted, “seriously, if this was a onetime thing, then that’s fine.” Of course, Toni meant what she said, but she wouldn’t lie and say that that she didn’t want to do this again. Cheryl was beyond sexy, and Toni would definitely look forward to the opportunity to be fucked by her._

_Cheryl propped herself up on one arm, facing Toni. “No, we should do this again. But… there has to be rules.”_

_“Rules?” Toni asked, lifting an eyebrow._

_“Yes. One, we can’t do this at my apartment. I have two roommates, at least one of them is home almost every night. Two… we can’t exchange numbers.”_

_Toni blinked. “What? I’m not following.”_

_“We pass each other on Tuesdays, right? We can talk then, we don’t need each other’s phone numbers. Plus, I know where you live now.”_

_“That’s kind of ridiculous, but okay, what are the other_ rules _?”_

_“Three… we can’t… we can’t get personal. I don’t want to tell you about my life, and I don’t want you to tell me about your life.”_

_Toni nodded slowly, and she was starting to get it. Cheryl must have been through some fucked up shit, and she was probably protecting herself. That, or she was closeted, but Toni hoped that wasn’t the case. Cheryl seemed pretty confident, though, so she didn’t really think it was._

_“Four, you can’t tell anyone. And five… this is just sex.”_

_“I think I got that from the part where we can’t tell each other anything about ourselves,” Toni said teasingly. The rules were worded sort of funny, but Toni understood them, and she wasn’t really bothered by them—other than the texting, really. Toni wasn’t really known for developing feelings for people. “I’m not looking for anything serious right now anyway, so I can agree to those rules.”_

_“Great. Do you have the same class schedule on Thursdays as you do Tuesdays?”_

_“Yeah.”_

_“Then that’s when I’ll let you know if I’m free.”_

_“Okay…”_

_Cheryl suddenly sat up and started getting out of Toni’s bed. “Glad we’re agreed.”_

_“Yeah, same.”_

_Cheryl started putting her clothes back on, so Toni got up and did the same. As soon as she was dressed, Cheryl cleared her throat and glanced at Toni. “Thanks for having me over.”_

_“Anytime,” Toni answered with a chuckle, and she started to walk Cheryl out. “I guess I’ll see you Thursday?”_

_“Mmhmm. Bye, Topaz.”_

_“Bye.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know maybe that some of this story isn't necessarily the most realistic ever... but like I've said, I wrote this story to have fun and I'm trying not to nitpick it too much (which is something I do a LOT).  
> Please feel free to leave more comments - I love each and every one of them!! I appreciate you all so much! Hit me up on Twitter @BrittzandTana if you wanna chat :) See you all in chapter 4!


	4. Library Study Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toni meets up with Cheryl on Tuesday to discover that Cheryl now has a plan for where they will meet to hook up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey lovelies! Time for another update!! Thank you for all of the comments and feedback on the last chapter, I'm happy that you all are enjoying!
> 
> I hope you all enjoy chapter 4!

When Toni got home on Friday night after Fangs’ party, she was still feeling surprised at seeing Cheryl there. She definitely wasn’t upset about how it had gone, once they’d snuck downstairs. It had still been weird to see her, but Toni had found it actually really… weirdly refreshing to see Cheryl outside of the stairwell or the hallway. It reminded Toni of the first time they’d met and hooked up, except they’d hooked up in a hallway of a public building, which had definitely been really sexy.

Over the weekend, Toni hung out with Sweet Pea and worked on homework, and it was enough to make her not think about Cheryl. That’s how most weekends went, which was easy when there was no way to talk to Cheryl over the weekend. As hot and mysterious as she was, and as good as the sex was, it was hard to get caught up when they didn’t ever talk. But Toni knew that’s what Cheryl wanted, and it hadn’t ever bothered Toni either. Things were good—as long as Cheryl came up with some way that they could keep it up while Sweet Pea was staying with Toni, that is.

* * *

“1906, the first feature length film in _history_ was created. What was it?” Professor West asked, glancing around the classroom. “No one?”

Toni tapped her foot impatiently, wishing that other people in this class would answer the professor’s questions. Professor West let out a long breath, and Toni heard herself answering before she realized she’d decided to do so, “The Story of the Kelly Gang.”

“Thank you, Miss Topaz!” Professor West exclaimed, remembering her name from the previous Thursday. “Would it kill all of you to just answer questions every now and then? Does anyone know how long the reel was? This was also in the reading…”

Finally, a guy sitting a row away from Toni raised his hand, and Professor West nodded to him. “Three thousand feet.”

“Close,” Professor West said, “it was four thousand, but thank you answering. Yes, so in 1906, the Australian film called ‘The Story of the Kelly Gang’ was released, and it was over an hour long. There’s actually some pieces of the film that do still exist, although most of it was lost forever.”

Professor West went on with his lecture, and Toni tried to stay focused. The truth was, her mind was wandering to topics that were definitely not related to the history of film. She kept thinking about seeing Cheryl at Fangs’ party on Friday, and their rendezvous by the supply closet. She was also hoping that Cheryl would’ve come up with some alternative to meeting at Toni’s apartment, but she wasn’t feeling optimistic.

“Alright,” Professor West said a few minutes later, “on Thursday there will be a _quiz_ over all of the reading you guys have done so far. Yes, that includes some of the questions I’ve been asking in class. Make sure you know the major events and dates. Please be prepared to prove that Miss Topaz is not the only one who does the weekly reading!”

Toni’s face flushed, and she let out a quiet groan. Peaches chuckled next to her. “You said you didn’t want to be that student, yet here you are…”

“Shut up.”

“Okay, that’s all from me today. See you guys on Thursday for the quiz.” Everyone started getting up and grabbing their things, and Toni and Peaches were no exception.

“I’ve gotta get to my class,” Peaches said, “I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah, see you,” Toni replied. They walked out of the room and split off in their two separate directions, and Toni turned into the main hallway of the Fine Arts Building. Her eyes immediately began scanning passing faces until she finally met those dark eyes searching for her as well. Cheryl walked alone today—as she did at this time most days, although occasionally Toni had noticed her walking with a friend. Cheryl blinked at her, then turning abruptly and entering their usual staircase. Toni followed close behind, since no one was around who might think it was suspicious.

She climbed down the empty staircase and approached Cheryl, who was standing tall as she waited. “So, did you come up with a miracle?” Toni asked, and Cheryl responded by grabbing Toni’s waist and suddenly pulling her into a kiss, pressing herself back into the wall and completely taking Toni by surprise. Toni broke the kiss after a moment, her breathing a little heavy, and she asked, “Um, am I supposed to know how that answers my question?”

“We don’t need a bed to hookup, Toni,” Cheryl stated firmly, pulling the smaller girl into her again. Toni kissed her back fervently, but she was still a little unsure about this, so she pulled away a few seconds later. Cheryl looked exasperated. “What’s the problem?”

“I’m just saying, for someone who doesn’t want anyone to know about this, you’ve picked a pretty risky spot,” Toni insisted. “Also, I have class in like twenty minutes.”

“Well do you have a better idea?” Cheryl snapped.

Toni let out a breath. “I’m not saying this is a bad idea,” Toni said, “I’m just not sure about this location, or timing.”

“What do you have after your next class?” Cheryl asked.

“Nothing.”

Cheryl nodded slowly, and Toni could see her brain working. “There are those study rooms in the library that students can book for half an hour or more at a time…”

Toni bit down on the inside of her lip. She couldn’t lie, the idea of getting fucked in the library was kind of hot. “I’ll see you there in an hour and a half?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Great.” Toni took a step away from Cheryl, her gaze dropping over the girl to check her out for a moment—she was wearing a black skirt with tights underneath, an expensive looking white sweater tucked into it with a faux fur, cropped, red jacket over it. “See you then.”

Toni turned on her heel and walked out the door into the main floor of the building, making her way out and toward her next class. She couldn’t help the smirk that was on her face—she was a little bit excited for her biology class to end that day.

Unfortunately, she got a text, upon arriving to her class, that complicated things.

**Messaging: Peaches**

**Peaches – Hey, I forgot to ask, you wanna study for the history of film quiz after our classes in the library? If I don’t study today then I’m going to forget, and I know that since you’re a nerd, you’re gonna study.**

**Toni – Ha. Sure, but can we do it a little after our classes end?**

**Peaches – I guess, why?**

**Toni – Gotta go to my biology professor’s office hours to ask about homework.**

**Peaches – Okay. I’ll just go get a table in the library and wait for you after.**

**Toni – Okay, sounds good.**

Toni was glad that Peaches didn’t mind waiting, but the downside was that Peaches was going to be waiting where Toni was actually going to be. Sure, the library wasn’t small, but it was still very possible that she and Peaches would cross paths. Toni let out a puff of air in frustration, wishing she had Cheryl’s number so she could let her know of the predicament.

But she didn’t, so she just tried not to stress about it as class started, and she focused on taking notes. She hoped that her professor would dismiss them a few minutes early, but unfortunately, he pulled out a pop quiz ten minutes before the end of class. Because of how distracted Toni felt, she took slightly longer than the ten minutes to finish the quiz, and after handing it in, she anxiously began to make her way to the library.

Peaches and Cheryl were coming from the same building, so it was likely they were on similar paths, but because Toni had finished the quiz a little late, she was likely behind both of them. That was maybe good, she decided, as she carefully pushed open the door to the library.

She spotted Cheryl immediately, leaning against the wall by the main desk of the library, with a study room key ring in her hand. Toni started toward her, and then suddenly, heard, “Toni!” coming from off to her right. She immediately stopped and turned to face Peaches. “I thought you had to go to office hours?”

“I do,” Toni said quickly, “um, but I figured I could drop off my stuff with you, and give my professor time to get to his office. We just had a pop quiz, and some people were still taking it when I left, so…”

“Oh okay, I haven’t gotten to find a table yet, let’s go grab one.”

They started walking into the main area of the library, passing the front desk, and Toni turned her head to look at Cheryl, who was staring back at her expectantly. Toni nodded slightly, trying to communicate that she would be there, and then looked ahead again. She and Peaches navigated to the back of the library—far from the study room—until they found a secluded table. “This is good,” Toni said, and Peaches nodded in agreement.

“I guess I’ll force myself to work on my writing homework while I wait for you,” Peaches said jokingly. “Any idea how long it’ll take?”

“Depends,” Toni said, dropping her backpack on the table but then fishing her biology notebook out of it—knowing that bringing nothing to office hours would look weird to Peaches. “After that pop quiz, he might have a line of people waiting. Hopefully not too long though.”

“Mkay,” Peaches answered with a nod, seeming sort of disinterested already. “See you soon then.”

Toni nodded, then turned on her heel and started back out of the library. When she reached the front of it, Cheryl was still there waiting, but on her phone now looking bored. She looked up, though, as Toni approached her, and pocketed her phone. Not saying anything to Toni, she started to walk into the library and toward the study rooms. Toni followed at a inconspicuous distance behind, and saw Cheryl unlock and slip into one of the rooms. A few seconds later, Toni slipped into the room as well, hearing it close and lock behind her.

“What was that?” Cheryl asked firmly.

“My friend texted asking to meet up with me in the library, and I told her I had to go to office hours first, but I was hoping she wouldn’t see me. It’s fine, she thinks that I’m going to office hours now. I wanted to let you know, but it’s not I had a way to contact you.”

Cheryl shook her head. “Whatever.” She slipped her backpack off and let it fall onto the table in the room. She took a step closer to Toni, taking her biology notebook out of her hand and tossing it onto the table as well. She glanced around the room, at the ceiling specifically, and then went over to the light switch, flipping it off. The two of them stood in the dark room for a moment, and then Cheryl asked in a low voice, “I’m pretty sure I owe you after Friday, right?”

“Mm,” Toni hummed in response, as Cheryl suddenly pressed Toni up against the wall. Their lips connected immediately, and Toni forgot all about the stress of the situation. Cheryl’s hands came to Toni’s hips, slipping them underneath Toni’s leather jacket and white top, the pads of her fingers tickling Toni’s midsection.

Cheryl didn’t waste a second, her fingers dragging across Toni’s stomach and meeting below her bellybutton, locating her pants button, and undoing it in a matter of seconds. She then slipped her right hand into Toni’s pants and underwear, bringing her slender fingers up against her folds and clit. Toni let out a quiet moan into Cheryl’s mouth.

Cheryl pushed Toni’s pants down a little to get better access, and slipped two fingers inside of her as her thumb continued to play with Toni’s clit. Toni grinded down onto Cheryl’s hand, resting most all of her weight into the wall as her hands clung to Cheryl’s shoulders. She felt beads of sweat forming on her forehead as Cheryl picked up the pace. The redhead’s free hand came to Toni’s hair, tangling into it tightly and turning Toni on even more.

She was getting so close, and as Cheryl pressed even deeper inside of her, she came undone. She pressed her palm over her mouth to keep any noise from coming out as she came, and then let out a long sigh of relief as she came down. Cheryl carefully pulled her fingers out of the girl.

“Don’t you think two people going into a dark room is suspicious on cameras, too?” Toni murmured through her heavy breaths.

“We just took a nap before studying,” Cheryl said, and Toni could just make out the smirk on her lips. Toni snickered, and Cheryl continued, “You laugh, but I’ve done it before. These rooms are great for studying with nap breaks.”

“Noted,” Toni murmured, chuckling a little. Her hands started to sweep over Cheryl’s body, coming into contact with her soft skirt and those tights underneath. “These aren’t going to be easy access, Blossom.”

Cheryl rolled her eyes. “I don’t want you to keep your friend waiting. Let’s just meet up here again Thursday.” Toni was surprised to hear that, because never had they ever hooked up _without_ Cheryl bottoming. There had been a couple of times when they hadn’t had enough time for Toni to get a turn, but Toni didn’t mind. She enjoyed being the top, although she definitely didn’t mind bottoming either. But Cheryl always made sure that she got her turn.

“You sure?” Toni asked, the surprise evident in her voice.

“Yeah,” Cheryl answered, and suddenly Toni felt the girl’s hand creeping around to Toni’s ass. But instead of grabbing it, she swiped Toni’s phone from her back pocket. She held it out to Toni, who unlocked it quickly, not sure what was happening. Cheryl faced the glowing screen toward herself, and Toni could see only her pale, lit face in the midst of the dark room. Cheryl tapped at the screen, and then turned it back around, handing it to Toni.

Toni looked down at the screen, and saw a new contact field filled out, named “CB,” and there was actually a phone number there. Cheryl’s number.

“That’s for emergency changes of plans. Seeing as our regular routine has been disrupted by your friend staying at your apartment, I believe the circumstances are extenuating enough to go against one rule.”

“Got it,” Toni said with a nod. “So… assuming no emergency changes of plans… see you back here on Thursday?”

“Yes. Also, you might wanna go touch up your lip gloss before you go back to your friend.”

“Right.” Toni locked and pocketed her phone, buttoning up her pants and straightening out her top. “I’ll go do that.” Cheryl took a few steps away from Toni and flipped the lights back on. “See you Thursday.”

“Yep.”

Toni grabbed her notebook and slipped out of the study room. She quickly made her way to nearest restroom, where she quickly went to the bathroom and wiped her lips clean of Cheryl’s lipstick. After reapplying her lip-gloss, she finally left and started back to where Peaches was waiting for her.

“Hey,” Peaches greeted when she saw her, “all good with your bio stuff?”

“Yep,” Toni confirmed with a smile. “Let’s start prepping for that quiz.”

* * *

Despite how happy Toni was to now have Cheryl’s phone number, she knew better than to use it lightly. Cheryl had always been very clear about the rules she wanted to follow, and Toni knew that it was a big deal that she’d even given Toni her number. So no texts were exchanged on Tuesday or Wednesday.

On Thursday, after Toni’s quiz in history of film, which she finished early, she said goodbye to Peaches for the day and headed to the library. Having arrived before Cheryl, she went to rent a room for an hour. She got the last room available and was handed the key. She started off toward the room as she decided to text Cheryl’s number, even though it wasn’t an emergency, so she didn’t have to wait in the lobby of the library.

**Messaging: CB**

**Toni – Room 140.**

She didn’t get a response from Cheryl, nor did she indicate that it was her messaging, but she assumed that Cheryl would get it. If not, she would probably text back to verify that it was Toni. Toni let herself into the study room and set her backpack on the table, pulling out her laptop and setting it up. She partly just wanted it to look like she was studying, but also she needed to kill about fifteen minutes, the amount of time that Cheryl would still be in class.

And about fifteen minutes later, at 3:45, there was a knock on the study room door, and Toni got up and opened it, revealing Cheryl waiting for her there. She slipped into the room, they flipped off the lights, and Toni pinned Cheryl up against the wall, their lips joining. She was frustrated by the fact that she couldn’t kiss Cheryl’s neck or exposed skin because of the lipstick situation, so she found herself dropping down onto her knees, pulling Cheryl’s pants down with her.

“Don’t make too big of a mess,” Cheryl instructed, through her heavy breaths.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Toni husked back, hearing Cheryl let out a quiet moan in response. Toni brought her lipstick stained lips to Cheryl’s center, licking through her folds slowly, and poking her tongue against her clit. She felt Cheryl’s hands bury themselves into Toni’s hair, and Toni picked up her pace.

It couldn’t have been very long later that she felt Cheryl come—she didn’t really _hear_ her come, though, because Cheryl was surprisingly good at keeping herself quiet. Still, there was no doubt with the way Cheryl’s thighs squeezed around Toni’s face, and how she then relaxed against the wall.

“God I needed that,” Cheryl murmured.

Toni chuckled, standing up against and pulling Cheryl’s underwear and pants up too, buttoning them for her. “Happy to help.”

“I hate to cut this short,” Cheryl said quietly, “but unfortunately, I have somewhere to be at 4:30 today.”

“Oh,” Toni said in surprise, “you could’ve told me on Tuesday.”

Cheryl shrugged. “I had enough time for a brief rendezvous. But I should go, so I can… clean up beforehand.”

“Alright. Well… same time next Tuesday?”

Cheryl nodded. “Definitely. I’ll see you then.”

“Yeah, see you then.”

Cheryl left the study room, and Toni turned the lights back on and sat back down at the table. She heaved a sigh. The worst part about this arrangement was that it severely cut down the amount of time she and Cheryl could have sex for. She grabbed her phone.

**Messaging: Sweets**

**Toni – How’s the apartment hunt going?**

**Sweets – I applied for a couple yesterday.**

**Toni – Cool.**

**Sweets – They’re kind of expensive though. Wouldn’t be able to move in for a couple weeks probably at the earliest.**

**Toni – Okay. No problem, just wondering.**

**Sweets – Sorry, you know I really appreciate you letting me crash at your place.**

**Toni – Yeah, seriously it’s no big deal, what are best friends for, right?**

Toni let out a sigh. It wasn’t like this was a big deal. Sure, sex with Cheryl was great, but it wasn’t like they were in some relationship, and if they were, it wouldn’t be so secretive. This was just sex, and Toni shouldn’t care how or when it happened. It was nice to just have some form of release a couple of times a week that didn’t come from her own fingers or vibrator.

So she put away her phone and resumed the assignment she’d been working on before Cheryl arrived. She may as well get some more use out of the study room while she still had it checked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter ended at kind of a weird place! How about I make it up to y'all by updating tomorrow?? ;D  
> Also, yay Choni has each other's phone numbers! We're gonna start seeing Choni get closer now that they have consistent communication haha. I hope y'all are having fun reading this :)  
> I appreciate you all for being here! Remember you can always follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana, I love chatting with y'all :D I hope you all have a great weekend! :D


	5. The Blackbox

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl and Toni have to think outside of the box to meetup on Tuesday, and Cheryl ends up lightening up on another of the rules for a moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Saturday! It's time for an update, because I said so haha! Thank you all so much for the comments, I'm so happy to be providing regular, almost daily updates for y'all :) Life's been pretty stressful lately so it's been a nice break :)
> 
> Enjoy chapter 5! xx

Cheryl headed to her musical practice on Thursday feeling more relaxed than she ever had on her way to practice—thanks to Toni, of course. Cheryl was starting to really like this sex on campus thing. Sure it happened a little faster than Cheryl liked, but at the same time, she was getting what she wanted out of it, and sex in the middle of the day was doing wonders for her.

She got to rehearsal right on time after stopping at a bathroom to clean herself up.

Her mood, however, immediately dimmed as she saw Josie approaching her. She had been doing a good job of blocking out last semester until Veronica had mentioned it the previous weekend. “Hey, girl!” Josie exclaimed brightly. “You look very peppy for so late in the week. What’s your secret?”

_Hooking up in the library first._ “Long day, I’m just happy to be here,” Cheryl lied, although it wasn’t a total lie, she supposed.

“I get that,” Josie agreed. “Hey, we should hang out and catch up sometime. You know, other than these rehearsal where we occasionally have the same call time.”

Cheryl gave her friend a weak smile. “I’m kind of swamped, but if I get time, I’ll text you.”

“Good,” Josie said with a sweet smile. Josie was always so sweet and happy, and Cheryl used to find it adorable, but lately, she was mostly frustrated that Josie kept acting so happy and friendly around Cheryl as if last semester just didn’t happen. Cheryl felt herself being pulled back for a moment, into the memories of that night when they’d been drinking late in Cheryl’s room… when Cheryl finally whispered out what she’d been feeling for weeks, and Josie closed the distance between their lips…

“Alright, let me get my Penelope up here, and then we’ll move on to Hope’s first number,” Professor Stone called suddenly, appearing on the stage from the wings. Cheryl pulled herself out of memory lane as she headed up onto stage to start rehearsal.

* * *

“Well, you look like you’ve had a rough day,” Veronica noted later that evening, walking out of her bedroom as Cheryl sat on the couch, staring mindlessly at some TV show that was on and occasionally picking at a bowl of leftover pasta she’d heated up.

“Gee thanks.”

“Did something happen at rehearsal? You were in a pretty good mood leaving Acting class. Which—side note, I’m so glad you convinced me to take that as an elective.” Veronica walked into the kitchen behind Cheryl, opening the fridge and starting to prepare her dinner.

“Nothing in particular.”

“Is this about Josie?” Veronica asked, all too tuned into Cheryl, apparently. Sometimes, Cheryl hated having best friends. They always seemed to know what was going on with her.

“No,” she lied, but she knew Veronica wouldn’t buy it, and she didn’t.

“You should just talk to her, set some boundaries explicitly. When you tell people that everything is fine, they act like everything is fine, and that can hurt,” Veronica advised.

“This is my problem,” Cheryl insisted, “she’s just being polite.”

“And isn’t that what bothers you?” Veronica asked back.

Cheryl groaned. “Ronnie, why do you know me so well?”

“Because, C, I was the one holding you after everything happened last semester,” Veronica reminded her. “And I know you always put up that strong front, but we’re best friends, and you can’t fool me.”

Cheryl let out a sigh. “Maybe I should just tell her that I’d rather not meet up and catch up outside of rehearsal.”

“Did you tell her otherwise?”

“I told her I’d text her if I had time, but that I was busy.”

“Well, at least you didn’t up and agree to it,” Veronica teased.

Tired of talking about this, Cheryl decided to change the subject. “Where’s Betty? Isn’t she usually here Thursday nights?”

“Yeah, I don’t know where she is tonight. But also, it’s not like you’d really know—isn’t this like, the first Thursday you’ve been home at night in weeks? You’re usually holed up at the library or something.”

“Yeah, well I didn’t have much to do tonight,” Cheryl lied, realizing that this was the first Thursday night in a while that she wasn’t at Toni’s. Even though they’d met up in the library and Cheryl had gotten off then, it still felt kind of sad that she wasn’t there tonight, sipping that cheap red wine that Toni liked and getting fucked by Toni in her polyester sheets. Things she’d judged the first time she saw them, but that she had actually gotten used to in a period of a few weeks.

“Does Josie have your same call time tomorrow?” Veronica wondered, coming into the living room suddenly with a small dinner of leftovers in her hand.

“I don’t know,” Cheryl admitted, “I’ve been trying not to look.”

“Well hey, I think that’s a sign of major growth.” Cheryl rolled her eyes. “What are you watching? I’m putting on Station Nineteen.” She switched over to Hulu to do just that, and Cheryl smiled a little to herself, feeling more relaxed after talking to Veronica a bit. Most of the time, Cheryl did love having her best friend.

* * *

By the time the next Tuesday rolled around, Cheryl was more than ready to meet up with Toni. She’d spent the weekend memorizing lines and songs for Urinetown, as well as memorizing lines for the scene she and Veronica were doing for their Acting class the upcoming week. On Monday, Cheryl had her voice lessons and her music class for the semester, as well as a stupid American history class that she hated. When Tuesday finally came, Cheryl didn’t even mind her classes, and her performance with Veronica went by quickly and went great. As she walked out of class next to Veronica, about to excuse herself to go “study,” though, she got a text from Toni, named TT for secrecy of course.

**Messaging: TT**

**TT – Study rooms are booked.**

**Cheryl – Shit. We need to try and book it ahead of time next time. We got lucky last week, I guess.**

**TT – Any other ideas?**

“Everything okay?” Veronica asked, and Cheryl realized that she’d frozen in place while reading the texts.

“Oh, yeah,” Cheryl answered, “but I just got an email from Professor Stone, uh he wants to see me and some other students about musical stuff.”

Veronica nodded. “Oh okay. Well, have fun with that. I’ll see you at home tonight?”

“Yes,” Cheryl confirmed with a nod, and then she turned around and started in the direction of the Theater. She walked down the first staircase she got to, and at the first floor landing, she leaned against the wall and thought about somewhere the two of them could meet up…

She blinked with suddenly realization—the Blackbox was the perfect spot for a secret hookup. In fact, at her high school, people used to hook up in the Blackbox all the time. She just had to make sure that there wasn’t a class or rehearsal happening.

She quickly looked up the Theater schedule, and sure enough, there was another forty-five minutes until anyone was due to be in the Blackbox.

**Messaging: TT**

**Cheryl – You know how to get to the Theater Blackbox?**

**TT – No, not really. How do you even get backstage of the Theater?**

Cheryl rolled her eyes. She wasn’t sure what major Toni was, but it was clearly not a theater or performing arts major.

**Cheryl – I’ll wait for you outside the Theater. We have a forty-five minute window. And while I wait, I’m going to book a study room for Thursday.**

**TT – omw, and okay.**

Cheryl went online to book the study room as she walked to the Theater, thankfully getting one for the right timeslot with no problem. And on this Thursday, Cheryl’s call time wasn’t until five-thirty, so she’d have plenty of time to make sure that Toni would get her turn.

A few minutes later, Cheryl heard the sound of combat boots against pavement, and she looked up to see Toni headed her way. She glanced around, and despite pretty much no one being around, she still turned around and started leading the way before Toni could get the chance to join her. Better safe than sorry, right?

She led Toni in through the side door of the Theater, which was, as she knew from checking the schedule, completely empty. She waited inside for Toni to push the door open and follow her in, and then she said, “Hey.”

“Hey,” Toni replied, “wow, I’ve never been in here.”

“You didn’t see the musical last semester?” Cheryl asked curiously—she’d been in it, just in the background, but still.

“No,” Toni answered.

Cheryl shrugged, and started leading Toni up onto the stage and then through the wings to backstage. There was another way to access the Blackbox, of course, but this was easier and was less likely she’d run into anyone noticing them going in. Backstage, she found the door leading into the Blackbox, and she pushed it open, confirming that no one was in the room before letting Toni follow her in.

“So this is where the Theater kids spend all their time,” Toni teased, and Cheryl realized that maybe Toni didn’t know that she was a performing arts major.

“Some of it,” is all she said. “No one is supposed to be here for like, another forty minutes. But… we should still be—”

“Discreet?” Toni asked with a chuckle. “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.”

“I was thinking…” Cheryl let her words trail off, and she dropped her backpack onto the floor. Toni did the same, and Cheryl grabbed her hand, pulling her over to the curtains hanging on one end of the Blackbox. She guided Toni behind them, pushing her up against the black painted wall behind the curtains, completely out of view of any of the entrances to the room. “How’s this?” Cheryl asked quietly, her lips just a few centimeters from Toni’s.

“Yeah,” is all Toni whispered in response, before she pulled Cheryl’s lips against hers roughly. Cheryl let her hands roam Toni’s body, squeezing her boobs and tracing the curve of her hips. She pushed the leather jacket off of Toni’s shoulders—she was almost always wearing it, and she definitely looked hot in it, but it was in the way right now. The jacket out of the way, Cheryl slipped her hands underneath Toni’s thin purple shirt and up over her bralette, thumbing over where her nipples were. Toni shivered under her touch, and Cheryl smiled a little into their kiss.

Toni grabbed Cheryl’s right wrist, and Cheryl thought she was going to stop her from touching her for a second, but Toni just pushed her hand downward and started to slip both of their fingers into her black ripped jeans. Cheryl chuckled a little, pulling her hand away from Toni’s and resting it on Toni’s waist.

“We don’t have all day,” Toni muttered against Cheryl’s lips, “are you gonna fuck me or what, Blossom?”

“And you’re always saying I’m impatient,” Cheryl muttered, pushing Toni firmly against the wall as she unbuttoned her pants. Toni let out a little impatient noise, and Cheryl brought her lips back against Toni’s, biting a little on Toni’s lower lip and enjoying the little moan she got in response. She was surprised by her own desire to be a little more aggressive, and she had a feeling that it was largely to do with the promiscuity of being somewhere like the Blackbox and having sex.

She slid her fingers in between Toni’s legs, and the pink haired girl let out a shaky moan as she grinded her hips downward.

“Shh,” she hushed Toni.

“We’re the only ones here,” Toni murmured.

“I don’t care,” Cheryl said back, and Toni whimpered a little. Cheryl slowly began to move her fingers against Toni’s center, the smaller girl leaning her head back against the wall, rocking her body against Cheryl’s touch.

“Make me come, Cheryl,” Toni ordered.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Cheryl snapped back, slowing her movements a little.

“God damn it, Blossom,” Toni groaned, “ _please_.”

Cheryl smirked a little, and she pushed two of her fingers into Toni’s opening, feeling her walls as Toni gasped shakily. Cheryl didn’t make Toni wait long after that, picking up her pace and driving Toni up to her climax. She leaned back a little, watching Toni’s face as she came. Cheryl had to admit, Toni was really sexy when she hit orgasm, which of course wasn’t surprising, considering how hot Toni was in general.

In fact, Cheryl found herself just… _drawn_ to the girl. It was the reason she’d been so bold as to invite herself over that first time she and Toni had talked, at the Fine Arts reception. She was used to one night stands—she’d developed a slight habit of having them right after what happened with Josie, and then she’d just stopped, not wanting to connect that way with anyone. But when she saw Toni… she honestly just couldn’t resist. She still couldn’t resist.

As Toni came down from her orgasm, Cheryl gently pulled her fingers out from between her legs and leaned into her a little. “You good?”

“Mmhmm,” Toni hummed in response. “That felt really good.”

“Good.”

“One thing, though,” Toni murmured, bringing her hands to Cheryl’s hips, her dark eyes glancing down at Cheryl’s body. “I do miss laying down to have sex a little bit.”

Cheryl let out a breathy laugh. “Yeah, well… hard to lay down and be hidden away in a corner somewhere.”

“I think,” Toni said lowly, unbuttoning Cheryl’s pants and gripping the top of them to carefully reverse their positions, leaving Cheryl against the wall, “that I’m going to have to fuck you on the table in the study room on Thursday.”

Cheryl felt heat pool between her legs, and a small moan escaped her lips.

“I bet you can’t wait,” Toni husked. “You’re gonna look so hot, your hair a mess everywhere on the table…”

“Mm,” Cheryl hummed.

“For now, though,” Toni murmured, “I guess this will have to do…”

Cheryl gasped as Toni’s fingers abruptly slipped past her underwear and inside of her. “God, Topaz…” Cheryl leaned her head against the wall behind her, spreading her legs a little. Toni grabbed her thigh, lifting it a little and Cheryl wrapped it around the other girl, riding her fingers. With Toni’s hands occupied, Cheryl moved her own right hand up to the right side of her chest, touching herself to complement the feeling of Toni between her legs.

She was coming in a matter of minutes, worked up from watching Toni come and from the idea of being fucked on the study room table. Thankfully, it wasn’t hard for Cheryl to quiet herself when she came, so she almost silently reached her peak, and then let out a long breath as she came down.

She let her breathing slow as she leaned up into the wall. Her thoughts were immediately clouded with the usual thoughts that went through her mind after sex, and she did her best to block them out.

“Good?” Toni whispered, and Cheryl nodded, the sound of the other girl’s voice drawing her out of her thoughts. “This spot was a good idea.”

“Mmhmm,” Cheryl agreed. “I tend to have good ideas.”

Toni chuckled, pulling her hand out of Cheryl’s pants. “So, I guess some class is going to be in here soon or something?”

“Musical rehearsal,” Cheryl corrected her.

Toni lifted an eyebrow. “My bad. So, you’re a theater major, clearly.”

“Performing arts,” Cheryl corrected, pushing some hair out of her face and then buttoning her pants up. They slipped out from behind the curtains and grabbed their backpacks.

“Okay,” Toni said with amusement.

“It’s different,” Cheryl snapped defensively. “Come on, let’s go out the same way we came in.” She started to lead Toni back onto backstage, but as they opened the door, she started hearing voices coming from onstage.

“I’m just so excited for all of the performances I’m lucky enough to participate in this semester,” a voice said, and it was so clear to Cheryl who it was—Josie.

“Shit,” Toni whispered, “I guess we have to go out the other way?”

“Yeah,” another voice from the stage said, “well girl, you’re doing amazing. And I still think we should record that song you showed me yesterday.”

Cheryl recognized the second voice as Margaret, also from the musical. Suddenly, Josie was walking backstage, and Cheryl got a clear view of her, but the girl didn’t see her or Toni as Cheryl quickly pushed Toni backwards and closed the door silently.

“That’s that girl I saw you talking to at the Fine Arts reception,” Toni commented, and Cheryl glared at her. “What? I just remember that you didn’t seem interested in talking to her that night.”

“She’s a friend,” Cheryl stated, “now come on, we should leave. They’re here early for musical rehearsal.”

“Really, she’s your friend? When I saw you with her, you looked really uncomfortable.”

Cheryl rolled her eyes as she and Toni started for the door that let out into the back of the Fine Arts Building. As Cheryl pushed the door open, she was happy to see no one in the hallway around her. She also wanted to change the topic, so she found herself saying, “So, I told you my major, Topaz. What’s yours? It must be Fine Arts, but you clearly don’t know anything about theater.”

Toni chuckled. “I’m a film major. But this is only my second semester, I haven’t gotten a chance to actually do much filming. I’m sure I’ll learn more about theater at some point.” Cheryl glanced at the smaller girl, interested to hear that she was a film major. It was kind of fitting, actually, her and her whole vibe. Suddenly, someone turned into the hallway, and Cheryl didn’t recognize them, but she immediately felt panic rise in her chest. As soon as the person had walked past them, she let out a breath.

“We’re not supposed to talk about that stuff,” she said stiffly, “that’s one of the rules.”

“You started it,” Toni teased, but Cheryl just glared at her. “Alright, fine, yeah. You’re right, that’s one of your rules.”

“ _Our_ rules,” Cheryl corrected.

Toni shrugged. “Right, yeah.”

“I booked a study room for Thursday already,” Cheryl said quietly, “so I’ll see you there after our classes.”

“Sounds good,” Toni said, shifting her weight a little uncomfortably. “Guess I’ll see you then.” Cheryl just nodded, and Toni started off in one direction down the hallway. As soon as she was out of sight, Cheryl let out a breath. Why did she suddenly feel bad about enforcing one of their rules? She should be frustrated about Toni trying to talk to her about Josie. She should be frustrated at herself for asking Toni about her major.

Groaning, Cheryl took off toward the nearest restroom to wash her hands, and then she would be heading home. She needed a night off to figure out where her head was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nuuu Cheryl why'd you freak out?!  
> I appreciate all of you being here, and I really appreciate all of the sweet comments and tweets! Y'all are really the best, and I'm so honored to have amazing readers like you! <3 I might update tomorrow as well, we'll see how the day goes!  
> I hope you all continue to have a good weekend! Stay safe and take care <3


	6. Study Room Table

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toni starts to acknowledge her growing feelings for Cheryl, and she's indecisive about whether or not to admit to Cheryl that she has them - because she knows that if she does, there's a good chance that Cheryl will back out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday everyone! Sorry I didn't update yesterday - even though Sunday is usually update day. This story's all about breaking rules, right? XD  
> So this chapter was one of my favorites to write :D I think you guys will like it!  
> Also I realized that I somehow forgot to answer some comments on chapter 3 and some of them I answered late lol. I try to answer comments before I update, but updating daily makes that harder for me apparently.  
> Anyway! Enjoy chapter 6!

“Good morning,” Sweet Pea said as Toni came out of her bedroom Thursday morning, “I made eggs, you want some?”

“Sure,” Toni answered with a smile. She’d had a late night studying the night before, and was now running about fifteen minutes behind this morning.

“You doing okay?” Sweet Pea asked her. “You seemed pretty closed off all day yesterday, and even Tuesday after you got back from campus.”

Toni nodded, although Sweet Pea had a point. “Just stressed. A lot going on.”

“I hear ya.”

The truth was that meeting up with Cheryl in the Blackbox on Tuesday had been so… _fun_ , and Cheryl had seemed a little different that day. A little brighter and excited. Things had seemed less quick and goal oriented, and it had been nice and refreshing. And they’d even _talked_ for a few minutes, before and after, and Toni found that the more she talked to Cheryl—the more she saw bits and pieces of who she was—the more she liked what she saw.

But then Cheryl had shut it down, which Toni should’ve expected, but it was disheartening. Toni didn’t care about relationships—she hadn’t ever sought out a relationship for more than sex—but she didn’t see why she and Cheryl couldn’t at least be friends.

That said, she knew this wasn’t about her, it was about Cheryl. Clearly, something had gone on with Cheryl in a past relationship or hookup or something, and she was trying to prevent it from happening again. Whatever it was, though, Toni wished that she and Cheryl could at least have a friendly conversation without it being against some rule.

“Here,” Sweet Pea was saying suddenly, setting a plate of eggs and toast on the counter.

“Thanks,” Toni said with a smile, sitting down at the bar and starting to eat. After her first bite, she teased, “I guess there are perks to having you around.”

“Ha, ha,” Sweet Pea said back with an eyeroll. “I know you’ve always liked my scrambled eggs.” Toni nodded. “Oh, by the way, I have an apartment tour on Friday. I’ll make sure and let you know how it goes. It’s a little over what I can afford… but if it seems like a good option, I’ll just start working some weekdays instead of just Saturdays and Sundays. Hopefully my job could give me those hours.”

“Hopefully, or maybe the landlord is willing to negotiate a little?” Toni suggested, and he nodded.

“We’ll see.”

Toni scarfed down the rest of her breakfast, and then stood up and brought her plate to the sink. “Hey thanks for breakfast. I’m running a little late, so I’ve gotta get to campus for class.”

“Alright. Tell Peaches I said hey,” he said with a smile.

“Will do.”

Toni grabbed her stuff for class and headed out.

She had three classes and her lunch break before she would meet up with Cheryl in the library, but she was already thinking about it. She was wondering if they would go right back to the get in, get out sort of vibe, or if maybe things would be more relaxed, like Tuesday.

She shook her head at herself. She needed to focus on school—Cheryl should just be an afterthought. Afterall, it wasn’t like Cheryl was thinking much of her.

Hours later, in her history of film class, Toni heard her phone buzz while she focused on Professor West’s lecture. She glanced at it absent minded, and was very surprised to see a text from Cheryl.

**Messaging: CB**

**CB – Room 116 by the way. I didn’t say on Tuesday.**

Toni was surprised that Cheryl was texting her this, considering the fact that it was still almost two hours before they were supposed to meet up. Toni just shook her head and flipped her phone over, refocusing on the lecture.

“Now, it’s estimated that eighty to ninety percent of _all_ silent films have been lost. Still, the silent era of film was still beyond important to the development of film as we know it today. So—”

Toni’s phone vibrated again, and she flipped it over curiously, seeing another text from Cheryl.

**CB – I don’t have class today right beforehand, so I will probably get to the library before you.**

Toni furrowed her eyebrows, still confused as to why Cheryl was texting her to tell her this. “Everything okay?” Peaches whispered from next to her, and Toni locked her phone, looking at her friend and nodding. Toni’s phone stayed silent through the rest of the class, thankfully, and when class was dismissed, Peaches gave her a curious look as they left the classroom. “What was with you when your phone vibrated? You looked like, really concerned.”

“Just a weird email,” Toni lied.

Peaches shrugged. “Hey, you wanna go to Fangs’ on Saturday?”

“Party?”

“No, just the usual of us,” Peaches answered, “he told me in communications class earlier. I think he’s planning to text everyone later. It’s just been a while since we all got to hang out.”

“I’m down,” Toni agreed, nodding. They turned into the main hallway, and Toni immediately found herself searching for Cheryl among the passing faces, before she remembered that Cheryl said she didn’t have class—which meant she had no reason to be in the Fine Arts Building right now. “Yeah, I shouldn’t be busy or anything.”

“Cool,” Peaches chimed happily. “I’ll see you Saturday then.”

“Yeah, see you,” Toni agreed, splitting off from Peaches’ path and heading downstairs and toward her biology classroom.

When she got to biology, she finally opened her texts with Cheryl and responded.

**Toni – Okay.**

She didn’t really know if she should say anything else. She was still a little put off by what happened on Tuesday, when Cheryl had shut down their conversation. She knew she shouldn’t be upset about it—it was a rule she’d agreed to. Still, she couldn’t help but be disheartened.

The worst part, though, is that Toni could tell herself over and over that she just wanted to be _friends_ with benefits, instead of just _benefits_ , but in reality, she would never be so disheartened over wanting to be someone’s friends. No, Toni wasn’t oblivious to her own feelings, but she wished that she could be, because they were terrifying.

And part of her knew that she should tell Cheryl how she was feeling, before it could get out of hand. Cheryl clearly didn’t want anything that had to do with feelings. But then Toni would think back to the Blackbox, when Cheryl had seemed so relaxed and had _asked_ Toni a genuine question. She thought about how defensive the redhead got over the difference between performing arts and theater. Such little endearing things, but no matter how small they were, Toni couldn’t help but be so drawn to Cheryl, to want to learn more about her.

Although, since Toni wasn’t used to having real feelings for people, she was inclined to believe that they would disappear in not much time. That’s usually how it went with her, and that’s why she’d always preferred hookups to relationships. Still, things with Cheryl had always felt a little… different.

She had a hard time focusing in biology that day, because now that her mind was on it, she couldn’t stop debating what the right thing to do was. Should she selfishly pretend her feelings weren’t there, or give up her regular hookups with Cheryl?

She hadn’t made a decision by the time she left class, and as she made her way to the library, she decided that she would make her decision after today.

Suddenly, there was a lot of weight on this rendezvous, and Toni found herself feeling rather anxious as she entered the library, headed for the study rooms. She reached room 116 before she knew it, and she took in a deep breath as she knocked on the door. A second later, it swung open, and Cheryl was standing there, wearing a short black skirt and a thin red blouse that was tucked into it. Her backpack and a white coat sat on the table.

The redhead stepped back, letting Toni into the room. Trying to quell her anxieties, Toni asked, “Little cold for a skirt and no tights, isn’t it?”

Cheryl shrugged. “I don’t have to walk home.”

“Lucky you,” Toni said with a chuckle, pulling her backpack off and setting onto the table next to Cheryl’s. Cheryl closed the door pointedly, leaning back against it. Toni bit down on her lower lip, trying to feel in the mood, but she was pretty sure she’d killed it on her own during the past hour and a half.

“Earth to Topaz…” Cheryl lifted an eyebrow, clearly noticing that Toni wasn’t really acting like herself. “You good?”

“Sorry,” Toni said, shaking her head. “Just… I have a lot on my mind. Kinda distracted.”

Cheryl hummed thoughtfully, stepping closer to the girl. “Should I remind you what we’re here for? And what you said you were going to do to me in here today?” Toni blinked, remembering what she said she wanted to do—fuck Cheryl on the table. And she still did want to do that, but she’d accidentally gotten herself wrapped up in this unfortunate stress. “You’re really not in the mood?”

“I’m sorry,” Toni said, “I should’ve just texted and canceled. Trust me, I _wish_ I was in the mood.”

Cheryl let out a breath, clearly a little disappointed. “It’s fine.”

“I hope you didn’t come all the way onto campus for this,” Toni said with a sad chuckle.

Cheryl shook her head. “No, I had class earlier so I just hung around the student union during when my class would’ve been.” Toni nodded, not sure what to say and mostly just waiting for Cheryl to excuse herself.

“Well,” Cheryl started, “I’ve already booked this room, so maybe I’ll just stay here and work on homework.” She sat down at the table, unzipping her backpack and pulling out her laptop. Toni just stared, and those dark eyes jumped and met her gaze a moment later. Cheryl’s mouth opened a little, and then she hesitated—something that Toni very rarely ever noticed her do—and then the girl finally said, “You can stay too, if you want.”

“Maybe I’ll be in the mood after studying,” Toni joked, and Cheryl cracked a slight smirk. Toni sat at the other end of the table, pulling her laptop out as well. She saw Cheryl putting in earphones, and she grabbed hers out of her backpack to do the same. Turning on some music and zoning off into her own world, Toni opened up her biology homework and started working.

After about ten minutes of working diligently, her gaze started to hop over to Cheryl every now and then, seeing those dark eyes trained at the bright computer screen. She looked so focused, and occasionally she would bite down on her lower lip in concentration. It was adorable.

She kept mentally scolding herself and turning her attention back to her homework. It had probably been half an hour since she’d gotten there when her phone suddenly started buzzing incessantly. Earbuds still in playing music, she grabbed her phone to see what was going on.

**Messaging: The GANG**

**Fangs – Hey, fam, all of you better show up at my apartment on Saturday at six. Haven’t gotten drunk with just my you losers in too long.**

**Sweets – I’m in, it’ll be a great chance to either celebrate a good apartment tour on Friday, or grieve a terrible one.**

**Peaches – You know I’m down bitches.**

**Jughead – I guess.**

**Peaches – You are such a loser, pretending like you don’t love hanging out with us.**

**Fangs – Yeah, Jug, we all know that you love us.**

Toni smirked a little at her friends as she started texting back.

**Toni – I’ll be there, and yeah Jug, you can’t hide your love for us. We’ve all seen it :)**

**Jughead – I hate you all.**

**Jughead – Except Sweet Pea, the only one not being an asshole.**

**Sweets – Huh? Oh, I’m late to the give-Jughead-shit party! Yeah, Jug, we all know you’re a softie deep down.**

**Jughead – And then there were none.**

**Fangs – Oh, also I may be bringing a plus one…**

**Peaches – Wait wtf you didn’t mention that earlier! Who is it you fucker??**

**Fangs – You wouldn’t know him. He’s a sophomore theater major.**

**Sweets – That’s adorable omg**

**Jughead – I really didn’t picture you dating a theater major after your previous boyfriends…**

**Fangs – Wow Jughead that’s really homophobic**

**Jughead – Literally how?**

**Toni – I’m so excited to meet your new guy Fangs!! <3**

**Fangs – My bi-queen!! You’ll always be my favorite Tiny Toni!**

**Toni – I know :’)**

**Jughead – Still don’t know how I was being homophobic??**

**Sweets – Yeah Fangs has started saying that anytime someone says anything remotely negative about him, I have a feeling his newfound addiction to Twitter is the cause.**

**Peaches – Sweets, I’m just saying that there would be no way for you to infer that if you weren’t also on queer twitter…**

**Sweets – Fangs retweets a lot of shit!!**

**Toni – Aww, Sweets keeps tabs on Fangs on Twitter <3**

**Fangs – Stop being a stalker, Pea! Anyway, his name is Kevin and he will be at the hangout on Saturday. Feel free to bring anyone if any of you losers is finally dating anyone.**

**Jughead – You say that like all of us weren’t without plus ones literally a week ago.**

**Toni – I’ll be coming alone, as per usual.**

**Sweets – That makes all of us I think. So great, that leaves plenty of opportunity to get to know Kevin…**

**Fangs – Don’t make me regret inviting him.**

Toni smirked a little again.

**Toni – Don’t listen to them, bb, I’m excited to meet him <3**

**Fangs – Omg my fave <3 Love you bb <3**

**Toni – Love youuuu <3**

**Sweets – Ugh, I hate it when they do this.**

**Peaches – Fangs always describes it as their “queer qu-onnection” specifically spelled like that…**

Toni bit down on the inside of her lip to keep from chuckling, and then her gaze jumped up, suddenly meeting Cheryl’s. The girl’s dark eyes were trained on her, and one of her earbuds was hanging freely. Toni took out one of hers as well. “What?”

“What’s so funny?” Cheryl asked, turning her eyes back to her computer screen.

“Just my friends,” Toni answered. Her phone buzzed again, and she glanced down at it.

**Fangs – You hets could never understand… am I right, Toni?**

**Toni – Definitely xx**

**Jughead – I hate this**

**Sweets – Screenshotting these texts to show KEVIN!!!**

**Fangs – Kevin has to learn that Toni is my BQF!**

**Peaches – Your what?**

**Fangs – Bi queen forever <3**

Toni chuckled a little, and became immediately aware of Cheryl’s attention being refocused on her. She looked up to meet that dark gaze. “Sorry,” she apologized quickly, “my friends are just being stupid.” Cheryl lifted an eyebrow, and Toni thought it was a sign of curiosity. She wasn’t sure, but she ventured a guess, and decided to explain further, “One of my friends, Fangs—the guy who hosted that party we were both at—he’s gay, and we have this big joke we do to annoy the rest of our friends where we act all relationship-y.”

“That is stupid,” Cheryl agreed, but the amusement and joking tone in her voice was evident. It was refreshing, actually, because Toni didn’t hear that tone from Cheryl very often.

“Anyway, he texted in a group chat, so all hell broke loose.”

“My friends and I don’t really do group chats,” Cheryl admitted.

“Really? But they’re so fun.”

Cheryl shrugged. “I’ve been in one or two before. I left the last one after drama came up between me and one of the other people in the group.” Cheryl looked back at her computer screen, and Toni took that to meant the conversation was over. She set her phone aside to refocus on her homework as well, but then Cheryl said, “I’m also just not much of a texter, to be honest.”

“What a surprise,” Toni teased, getting a glare from the other girl.

“That is completely unrelated to rule number two.”

“Broken rule number two.” Cheryl just rolled her eyes, and Toni felt bad, not wanting the conversation to end. “Why don’t you like texting?”

“It’s hard to tell what people are thinking when they’re texting.”

“Well, it’s hard to tell what some people are thinking regardless,” Toni countered. She hoped it wasn’t obvious that she was calling Cheryl out, but she definitely was, at least a little bit.

Cheryl noticed, though, at least Toni was pretty sure she did by the narrow eyed look she received. “ _Some people_ don’t want people to know what they’re thinking.”

“Then why does it matter if you’re texting or talking in person?”

“You know, the more I’m _talking_ to you, the more I realize that you are infuriating.”

Toni snickered. “I knew that about you from the first time I ever even spoke to you.”

“Ha.”

As they settled back into doing their homework, Toni’s mind started wandering, playing the conversation she and Cheryl had just had over in her head again and again. Even after the mention of the rules, Cheryl hadn’t put an end to the conversation. And they were sitting here, working on homework in the same study room together, and Cheryl wasn’t freaking out about it.

Toni made a decision suddenly—she wouldn’t end things with Cheryl, not when it seemed like Cheryl might also be willing to break some rules. Of course, Toni didn’t want to make Cheryl do anything she wasn’t comfortable with, but she was confident that Cheryl would shut anything down that she didn’t want. And what was the harm really? It wasn’t like Toni was going to bring her feelings _into_ the sex.

Decision made, Toni suddenly closed her laptop, causing Cheryl to look up in surprise. “You done?”

“Actually,” Toni said in a low voice, “I was thinking it would be a good time to lay you out on this table…”

She could practically see Cheryl’s eyes darken. “Oh?” Toni didn’t answer, sliding her laptop and earphones back into her backpack. Cheryl followed suit, and they put their bags onto the floor. Toni got up and flipped the lights off.

“Too bad I’ll barely be able to see you,” Toni murmured, making her way back to the table in the dark. She couldn’t really pinpoint where Cheryl was, but she started around the table to where Cheryl had been before. A second later, she found the girl, and her hands fell on onto her waist, at the top of her skirt. “Good thing you dressed for easy access today…”

“Who says I did that on purpose?” Cheryl murmured, but Toni didn’t answer, instead bringing their lips together into a firm kiss. Cheryl kissed her back intensely, and Toni backed her back into the table. Her hands came to Cheryl’s bare thighs, slipping under her skirt a little, and gripped them tightly as she lifted Cheryl up onto the table. Cheryl let out a little gasp as she sat suddenly, her legs wrapping around Toni.

“God you’re sexy,” Toni moaned out. She pushed Cheryl back a little, climbing up onto the table as well and pushing Cheryl down onto her back. She was able to make out the girl’s shape in the dark, and she dragged her hands up Cheryl’s thighs, then up to her midsection, untucking her shirt and feeling that soft skin underneath.

“What are you waiting for, Topaz?” Cheryl groaned. “ _Fuck me_.”

“You just love to tell me what to do, huh?” Toni murmured. “Kinda ironic, considering how much of a _bottom_ you are.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Cheryl growled.

Toni smirked, ducking down and lifting Cheryl’s skirt. She put her head underneath it, and brought her hand in to sweep aside Cheryl’s underwear, and then she brought her tongue to Cheryl’s lower lips. The redhead immediately let out a gasp, her back arching slightly. Toni grabbed onto Cheryl’s thighs as she began to eat the girl out, reveling in her taste for the first time in a while.

“God, Toni,” Cheryl moaned.

Toni paused what she was doing, licking her lips as Cheryl whimpered desperately. “Admit it, Blossom. You’re _such_ a bottom.”

“Fuck off,” Cheryl snapped, although it came out somewhat like a whine.

“Excuse me? Did you want me to make you come or not?”

“God, fine, I’m a fucking bottom, now will you _fucking_ fuck me?”

Toni grinned, and then brought her tongue right back to Cheryl’s center. Two of her fingers followed shortly after, easily slipping inside of Cheryl and getting a sigh of relief from her. Toni didn’t let up at all after that, only increasing her pace, and Cheryl hit her orgasm in a matter of minutes, her thighs squeezing inward as she forced herself to come quietly.

And then she relaxed into the table, her breathing heavy, and Toni pulled herself out of underneath Cheryl’s skirt, looking up at the girl. Her eyes had mostly adjusted to the darkness now, and she could see Cheryl’s hair splayed all across the table, and the rise and fall of her chest. “Okay?” Toni whispered.

“Mmhmm,” Cheryl hummed, taking another moment to breath, and then sitting up slowly. “I guess studying did get you back into the mood?” She said it sarcastically, and Toni knew that it was meant to be an inquiry into what actually had gotten her into the mood.

“I’d be stupid to pass up on an opportunity to fuck you on a table, wouldn’t I?” Toni asked back, leaving it at that.

“Well, you won’t be hearing any complaints from me about that.”

Toni chuckled. “Well… I guess our time is almost up in this study room, huh?”

“Yeah,” Cheryl confirmed. “I would’ve booked it for longer if I’d known we’d be here a little longer.”

“It’s fine,” Toni insisted. “There’s always Tuesday, right?”

“Mmhmm,” Cheryl agreed.

Toni turned on the light once Cheryl was standing and had tucked her top back into her skirt. They started grabbing their backpacks and pushing their chairs back under the table.

As they were about to leave, Cheryl said, in an unreadable tone, “We didn’t do so great at following the rules, today.”

Toni cast Cheryl a sideways glance. “Not really, no.” They stood there in silence for a few seconds. “Does that bother you?”

“Rules one, four, and five still apply.”

“Agreed.”

“Good. Then I’ll see you on Tuesday.”

“See you on Tuesday.”

And with that, Toni walked out of the study room, followed by Cheryl a few seconds later she was sure. Rules two and three were done—texting was allowed, talking about each other’s lives was allowed. That was all Toni really wanted. Not going to Cheryl’s apartment was a nonissue, not telling anyone was easy, and of course, this was still just sex. The part of her that was acknowledging her budding feels was still not very happy with rule number five, but she knew that rule number five could only be broken in true agreement, and it was very obvious that Cheryl was not in that place.

So Toni would take what she could get, and she smiled to herself as she started toward the library bathroom to wash her hands before starting her walk home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooh! Progress! I hope you all enjoyed that ;D  
> Feel free to come follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana if you wanna say hey! I love talking to y'all on there, tweet me or DM me anytime! And also keep the comments coming on here, they're really lifting my spirits when I read them while I'm working and whatnot haha. (I'm working an 8-5 job this summer, but I'm working from home so it just takes so long to go by!)  
> I appreciate you all being here to read this update! I'll see you all possibly tomorrow with the next chapter!! xx


	7. Texting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl finds herself having an unwanted confrontation on Friday, and when she needs a distraction, she reaches out to her current favorite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello everyone! I know that I didn't update the past two days, and I'm sorry!! My life the past few days has been super stressful! Emily (my girlfriend) and I have been in the process of applying to an apartment, and especially yesterday there was a ton of drama with giving notice to our current apartment, providing all of the documentation we need to the new apartment. I was on the phone like 5 times with the apartment people while I was trying to work all day, and by the time the day ended, I was just too exhausted to post. BUT! We got approved, and we should hopefully be able to sign our lease tomorrow! Accepting good vibes so that it hopefully goes well! :)
> 
> Anyway! Without further ado, please enjoy chapter 7!

When Cheryl got home on Thursday, after her meetup in the library with Toni, she locked herself into her room, once again desperately in need of collecting her thoughts.

After Tuesday, she’d felt so torn. It wasn’t hard to tell that Toni had been a little upset at Cheryl shutting down their conversation, but it _was_ part of the rules that _they_ had agreed on. So why had Cheryl felt so conflicted? After thinking about it for a while on Tuesday and Wednesday, she’d decided that it was nice having someone in her life who was completely separate from the rest of it. Toni had to ask about Josie because she _didn’t know_ what had happened between the two of them, and maybe that was the part that Cheryl liked.

After coming to that decision, Cheryl had gotten hung up on what that meant. Having Toni not be a part of the rest of her life was oddly refreshing, but part of her started to get the itch to open up. She couldn’t figure herself out, but she’d set up those rules for a reason that first night—so that nothing that had happened in the past could repeat itself. Not what happened with Josie, not anything that had happened before. After her brief period of one night stands, she’d decided that relationships should be the last thing she should focus on. But when she’d laid her eyes on Toni, she’d sort of broken that rule to herself. The five rules made to define her relationship with Toni were what kept her from completely destroying it.

Then earlier that day, Thursday, she’d been prepared to get back to the quick and dirty of it, but she’d seen how checked out Toni had looked. She felt a bit of worry poke at her chest, wondering why Toni was upset, and that was the first time in a while that Cheryl had really felt worried about someone else. It scared her, but Cheryl wasn’t one to expose her fears, so she’d ignored it as best as she could. She didn’t know why she’d invited Toni to stay and study with her, it was just something about Toni’s soft gaze…

She thought it would be a quiet and simple study time, and then she’d caught Toni texting her friends, smirking and almost laughing as she did so. Seeing Toni go from looking upset and worried to looking so happy had made Cheryl’s heart swell a little, and that’s what caused her to start a conversation between the two of them. And it had been nice, listening to Toni talk about her friends, and then the bantering that had started from there. And somehow, that conversation had gotten Toni back into the mood for sex—even if Toni hadn’t admitted that directly. It was obvious.

And the sex had, of course, been so good. By the time Cheryl left, they’d abolished rule number three, leaving only one, four, and five in place. Granted, those were the most important ones to maintaining a secret, sex-only relationship, but Cheryl still felt a little conflicted about agreeing to drop rule number three. She was inclined to reprimand herself, and then she would remember Toni’s smile and her laugh, and the guilt disappeared.

Cheryl wished that she could understand it. Was she developing feelings for Toni? She hoped not, that would undoubtedly lead to her getting hurt, as it always did. If she wanted to protect herself, she should sever this relationship now, before her feelings could truly develop, if that’s what was happening.

Every time Cheryl imagined telling Toni that she wanted to end things, though, she felt a little pain in her chest, and she imagined Toni asking her why. She couldn’t even get through a mental playthrough of it, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to get through it for real.

So she resolved herself to just going along for the ride. As long as the rest of the rules were maintained between the two of them, it would be fine. Texting and getting to know each other were harmless if they planned to keep things sex-only. And they _were_ agreed on the remaining rules, Toni had said so herself. So there really wasn’t anything to worry about.

Cheryl finally came to that decision late Thursday night, and afterwards, she slept soundly.

On Friday, Cheryl felt more refreshed than she had in over a week. Her worry was dissipated, leaving her once again confident in nearly every decision and aspect of her daily life. As she walked out of her bedroom, dressed comfortably for Urinetown rehearsal, she found Betty and Veronica lounging in the living room as they ate their breakfast.

“Morning, Cher!” Veronica chimed immediately. “Good night sleep?”

“Yeah, you look ready to kick some ass—in a badass way, not an angry way,” Betty agreed.

“Yes, I actually did have a very good night’s sleep,” Cheryl confirmed. “Probably the only ass I will be kicking today is my own. I’m gonna be at rehearsal for four hours.”

“Damn,” Veronica said, “I honestly commend you for being able to do that.”

“When is Urinetown gonna be done?” Betty asked curiously. “You have to tell us when tickets go on sale!”

“Should be in April,” Cheryl answered. It was nearing the end of February now. “I think the first performances start in the second week of April? And they run for a few days every week for three weeks, if I remember right. I’ll definitely let you guys know when tickets come out.”

“So, how _are_ all things musical related?” Veronica asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Cheryl let out a sigh, finally continuing her walk into the kitchen to make herself some toast. “I’m not talking about Josie with you anymore, Veronica.”

“Well did you finally tell her that you don’t want to be friends?” Veronica demanded.

“Wait, what did I miss? Did something else happen with Josie?” Betty asked.

“No,” Veronica answered, “except that Josie still thinks that Cheryl is interested in maintaining their friendship, when it’s very clear to me that Cheryl is still not happy about last semester.”

“Of course she’s not happy,” Betty agreed, “Josie kinda fucked up.”

Veronica nodded. “No, I completely agree! But Josie doesn’t know how much that fucked with Cheryl, because she won’t tell her.”

Cheryl rolled her eyes. “Would you two stop talking about me like I’m not right here? No, I haven’t told Josie yet, but I haven’t seen her this week.” Her mind flashed back to Tuesday, when she and Toni had seen her backstage, but that didn’t count, of course. “And I’m hoping that she won’t be called today at the same time as me.”

“But if you are,” Veronica said, “you should talk to her.”

“If I have time,” Cheryl countered. “Rehearsals are crazy busy.”

“Cher…”

“Ronnie,” Cheryl snapped, “I’m seriously done talking about this.”

“Leave her be, V,” Betty said softly, “I’m sure Cheryl will do whatever is best in the moment.”

Cheryl let out a breath, making her toast in silence. Betty and her weren’t all that close in high school, but since they started rooming together, they’d become friends. Veronica was really the reason for that, though. Cheryl and Veronica had been friends for most of their life, and when Veronica had met Betty, the two of them had been fast friends. Betty and Cheryl had never tried to really become friends until college, and now Betty would often act as a buffer between the two best friends when they would get snappy at each other. Despite how close Cheryl and Veronica had been for so long, they were two strong personalities, and they were bound to argue every now and then.

When Cheryl finally finished making her breakfast, she decided to join her friends in the living room in spite of her frustration toward Veronica.

“Hey,” Veronica said quietly, “look, I’m sorry for upsetting you, Cher, really. You know I just want you to be happy, right?”

Cheryl smiled a little. “I know, Ronnie. Thanks.”

“Let’s have a movie night tomorrow?” Betty suggested. Veronica grinned and nodded, giving Cheryl an expectant look.

“Fine,” she gave in, taking a bite of her toast and suppressing a smile. She did have good friends.

Cheryl arrived at the Gale Theater at one in the afternoon, ready as ever for rehearsal. She didn’t see Josie there when she arrived, which put her in an even better mood. Rehearsal was tiring of course, but it was also fun, and Cheryl was getting more and more into the role the more she practiced.

Despite her call time being over at five, Professor Stone dismissed her about fifteen minutes early, saying that she was doing excellently and that he had no more he wanted to work on for her that day. Feeling proud, Cheryl made her way to the Blackbox to get her stuff.

When she got there, she immediately noticed Josie standing in front of a mirror on the wall, practicing one of her songs. Her call time must’ve been five. Josie saw Cheryl’s reflection in the mirror, and stopped singing as she turned around with a smile. “Hey, girl! How was your week! You never texted me about catching up.”

“Hey,” Cheryl said halfheartedly. “My week was alright, just busy, you know…”

Josie nodded. “Yeah. Did you have rehearsal this week before today? I didn’t see you on Tuesday.”

“Wednesday,” Cheryl answered.

“Oh okay,” Josie said with a nod. “Well hey, are you busy tomorrow?”

“Actually yeah, Veronica and Betty and I are doing a roommate movie night,” Cheryl told Josie, happy that she had a real excuse.

“Well how about lunch?” Josie asked, lifting an eyebrow. “I’m free all day, so whatever mealtime works for you—or we could even just meet on campus at the coffee shop?”

“Um, I don’t know,” Cheryl said, “I have to see what I need to get done tomorrow.”

Josie crossed her arms, a frown coming to her face, and Cheryl felt herself tensing, ready to stand her ground for whatever was coming. “Cheryl, is something wrong? You’ve been super distant even though we’ve been seeing each other like every week.”

“I’m not being distant,” Cheryl argued, “I’m just busier this semester.”

“You got awfully busy at the end of last semester too,” Josie said.

Cheryl felt anger suddenly bubbling in her chest, and when it started, she knew it was impossible to keep it inside. “You _know_ why I got distant last semester, _Josie_.”

“You told me everything was fine!” Josie exclaimed. “You told me that you got it, you understood and everything was fine, and we could still be friends! Still, I gave you weeks of space!”

“Maybe I needed more than a couple weeks to get over how you treated me,” Cheryl heard herself snap. Josie’s eyes widened.

“How I _treated_ you? I _treated_ you with respect by telling you that I didn’t want to get into a relationship with you. I told you the truth about how I was feeling!” Josie exclaimed.

“Yeah, you told me that after you kissed me and—” The door to the Blackbox opened suddenly, and Cheryl immediately clamped her mouth shut. She stepped forward a few paces so she was closer to Josie, and lowered her voice. “You told me that right after you _kissed me_ and _had sex with me_. When you _knew_ that I really cared about you.”

“How was I supposed to know that you’d had such strong feelings for me?” Josie demanded. “I was just having fun that night, and I thought you were too!”

“No, you didn’t,” Cheryl snapped, “I told you that night that I liked you, and _then_ you kissed me!”

“Maybe I just misunderstood what you meant by ‘liked.’”

“So what?” Cheryl exclaimed. “The point is, you hurt me Josie. And I wanted to stay on good terms with you—I still do—but I can’t be friends with you right now.”

“It’s been months since that happened,” Josie said, her arms still crossed. “I’m sorry that you’re still upset about it, but I did what I could already.”

“I’m not looking for an apology from you,” Cheryl snapped, as a few more people started to come into the Blackbox. Cheryl lowered her voice even more. “I’m not looking for _anything_ from you. But this is me asking you to please stop acting like we’re friends. If we were friends, you would’ve told me that you didn’t have real feelings for me _before_ you kissed me. You would’ve told me that the sex was going to be a onetime fling for you, that your feelings for me weren’t beyond sexual at all. You would’ve been honest with me _before_ you took advantage of my feelings for you.”

“I didn’t—”

“Save it, Josie,” Cheryl snapped, stepping away from the girl. “Maybe one day we can be friends again, but today is _not_ that day.”

“You’re telling me,” Josie mumbled.

“Everything okay with you two?” Margaret suddenly asked, appearing next to them.

“Fine,” Cheryl snapped. She turned around, grabbed her stuff from where she’d left it earlier in the Blackbox, and then swiftly made her exit. She was pissed off, and she really wished she had some way to blow off steam.

On her way home, she stopped at her favorite sandwich place for dinner to-go, and then walked the rest of the way from the shop to her apartment. When she got there, she found Veronica sitting at the dining table on her laptop.

“Hey girl,” Veronica greeted brightly, looking up and almost immediately realizing that Cheryl was not in a good mood. “Oh no. What happened.”

“I saw Josie,” Cheryl said.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, and she finally caught on to the fact that I clearly don’t want to meet up with her, and she asked why…”

“And you finally told her you can’t be friends with her?”

Cheryl set down her bag and joined Veronica at the table with her dinner. “You could say that. More like, we fought in the Blackbox and people probably overheard us.”

“You guys like, actually got into a fight?”

“A verbal one of course,” Cheryl said unnecessarily, “but yes. She doesn’t think she did anything wrong at all, and she thinks I should be over everything that happened. I told her that I can’t be friends with her right now.”

“You know what, I’m proud of you,” Veronica insisted. “I know that was really hard, Cher, seriously. But you did what was best for you, and it doesn’t matter what Josie thinks about what she did. What matters is that you’re hurt, and you deserve space.”

Cheryl just nodded, taking a bite of her sandwich. When she swallowed a moment later, she said, “I’m just… I’m so _angry_ at her.”

“I know girl, but that will pass,” Veronica assured her. “You did the right thing, and now you’ll be able to really start healing, right?”

Cheryl shrugged. A few moments of silence later, she asked, “How was your day?” hoping to change the topic. Veronica launched into a story about her day, and Cheryl half listened as she ate her dinner, happy to be distracted.

Soon after she finished her dinner, Cheryl excused herself to her room to study. She found herself burying herself in her textbooks and assignments, wanting any distraction from her thoughts, which were swarmed with feelings of hurt, memories of that night with Josie, and inklings at memories further back that Cheryl did everything she could to suppress.

It was late, around ten in the evening, when she finally closed her laptop and her textbooks and made her way to her bed, mentally exhausted. Her thoughts were still plagued with negativity, though, and she knew that she would have a hard time sleeping later. She debated on different ways to maybe help—a hot shower was definitely needed, but maybe she should start binging a new show or something.

Grabbing her phone to look up bingeworthy shows, Cheryl’s text message app opened first, and she saw halfway down the screen her messages to “TT”—Toni. She let out a sigh, wishing for a moment that she could just invite Toni over to distract her, but she could never do that. Veronica and Betty were both there, and Cheryl couldn’t let them find out about Toni. That would break two more rules.

It dawned on her slowly, though, that Toni didn’t need to _be_ there to be a distraction.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, finding her confidence amidst all of the bad thoughts, held onto it, and opened her eyes again, immediately starting to text Toni.

**Messaging: TT**

**Cheryl – What are you doing right now?**

She bit down on her lower lip, hoping that Toni would be free. She got a response in a matter of seconds.

**TT – Watching the newest episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Why?**

Cheryl rolled her eyes—everyone she knew was obsessed with those shows, but she had grown tired of it after _seven_ seasons, she couldn’t imagine getting through _sixteen_.

**Cheryl – Are you home?**

**TT – Yeah… but so is my friend.**

**Cheryl – I wasn’t asking to come over. Are you in your room?**

**TT – Mmhmm.**

Cheryl took in a breath. She’d never really done this before, but she needed the relief.

**Cheryl – I was hoping you might want to help distract me.**

**TT – From?**

**Cheryl – Everything.**

**TT – Well, I can probably provide that sort of distraction… what are you wearing, Blossom?**

**Cheryl – Too many clothes.**

**TT – Then take them off.**

Cheryl bit down on her lower lip, silently slipping her leggings off, and then pulling off her tank top, followed by the sports bra she’d been wearing for rehearsal. Left only in her underwear, sprawled over her bed, she texted Toni back.

**Cheryl – Done.**

**TT – You’re completely naked?**

**Cheryl – Just in underwear.**

**TT – Which pair?**

**Cheryl – Black lacy ones…**

**TT – I’ve seen you in those, right? A couple weeks ago…**

**Cheryl – Yes.**

**TT – God, they’re so hot on you. I wish I could touch your soft skin, along your curves and your boobs…**

**TT – You better be doing it for me…**

Cheryl dragged her hand down the side of her body, then back up between her boobs, and wrapped her hand around her right boob, squeezing it firmly and thumbing her own nipples. She switched hands so that her left hand was squeezing her left boob, and she texted Toni back.

**Cheryl – I’m doing it.**

**TT – You’re so fucking hot when you do as you’re told, Blossom.**

**TT – Imagine me on top of you, kissing your neck, down between your boobs, all the way down your stomach…**

Cheryl let out a little sigh, practically able to feel what Toni was describing as she let her eyes fall closed. She felt heat gathering between her thighs. How could she be getting so turned on by texting?

**Cheryl – It’s making me so wet…**

**TT – Yeah? I bet those thin panties are barely holding up, huh?**

**TT – Maybe you should take those off for me…**

Cheryl did as she was told, slipping her dirtied underwear off and kicking them off of the bed. She wanted so badly to touch herself, but instead she patiently texted Toni back.

**Cheryl – They’re gone.**

**TT – I bet you’re so desperate for me to touch you, aren’t you?**

**Cheryl – I need it so bad.**

**TT – What do you need so bad?**

**Cheryl – Your touch, Toni, I need it.**

**TT – I know you do. But I have no doubt that you’ll do just fine. You ready to start touching yourself for me?**

**Cheryl – I’m so ready, please.**

**TT – Good, start slow, don’t go inside yet.**

Cheryl finally let her hand fall between her thighs, sliding through her wetness and feeling the area around her clit, awakening her core. A small breath of relief escaped her, but after a minute it wasn’t enough. Texting with her left hand was a little difficult, but she managed just fine after moment of fiddling with her phone.

**Cheryl – I need more, Toni.**

**TT – Yeah? What do you need?**

**Cheryl – I need your fingers inside me.**

**TT – Fine, slowly, nothing fast yet.**

Cheryl let out a low moan as she pushed her fingers inside of herself, feeling her inner walls clench a little as they begged for more. She started to slowly pulse in and out of herself, biting onto her lower lip.

**Cheryl – God, it feels so good. But I still need more, please.**

**TT – You’re so fucking needy, aren’t you?**

**Cheryl – Toni, please**

**TT – You’ve been good so far… you can pick up the pace. Tell me how it feels.**

Cheryl started plunging deeper into herself at a faster rhythm, and her breath coming out unevenly. It took a lot of effort to text Toni back, but as per the instruction, she did.

**Cheryl – It feels so good, fuck**

**TT – Yeah? Fuck, imagining you fucking yourself is getting me so fucking horny**

**Cheryl – Are you touching yourself too?**

**TT – Yes**

**TT – I want you to tell me when you’re close, and then you can’t come until I tell you too**

Cheryl let her eyes fall closed for a second, setting her phone down as she brought her left hand to squeeze her nipples as her right hand continued to work herself up to climax. Only once she felt close did she make herself pick her phone back up.

**Cheryl – I’m close, Toni, please I need to come**

**TT – Give me a minute, I’m a little behind you…**

**Cheryl – I need to come, please let me come**

There was no immediate response, and Cheryl heard herself let out a very audible whimper. She bit down on her lower lip, her body barely able to take waiting anymore. She was tempted to just stop waiting, but finally, she got a text from Toni.

**TT – Come for me**

Cheryl curled her fingers inside her as she greatly increased the pressure against her clit, and it put her over the edge—she couldn’t help the moan that escaped her lips as she came. Her orgasm lasted many long seconds, and she wasn’t sure if she’d ever come so hard to her own hand.

**Cheryl – God Toni**

**Cheryl – That was so good**

**Cheryl – Was it good for you too**

**TT – So good, god it’s so hot to imagine you touching yourself**

**Cheryl – I had no idea you were so good at sexting**

**TT – I’m a girl of many talents**

**Cheryl – I believe it**

**Cheryl – Thank you, I really needed the distraction**

**TT – If you wanna talk about it…**

**Cheryl – Thanks, but I should probably take a hot shower and go to bed.**

**TT – Alright, Blossom**

**TT – I hope you sleep well**

**Cheryl – Trust me, after that, I definitely will**

**TT – Good to hear ;)**

**Cheryl – Goodnight, Toni**

**TT – Night, Cheryl!**

Cheryl climbed out of bed and stumbled to her bathroom, needing to go to the bathroom quickly before she could shower. She was, physically, much more tired now, but her mind felt less exhausted. She actually felt like sleep might come easy, and like it might actually help relax her. Who knew that sex over text could be so satisfying?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not the typical smut that we've seen in this story, but I hope none of y'all are complaining ;)
> 
> I'm so glad that you guys have been enjoying this story! Your comments have been really making me smile, and I appreciate all of you spending time here reading this story! I've been writing a new story too... I'm only 10,000 words into it but I'm really hoping it'll take off. It's a big undertaking compared to this one (which I will explain why eventually), but I have a feeling all of y'all would enjoy it :)
> 
> Feel free to follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana to tweet or DM me anytime, I love to chat with y'all <3 Thank you all so much again for being here, and I will see you all either tomorrow or, if not, definitely Saturday! xx


	8. The Stage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl and Toni meet up over the weekend, and find themselves talking about some deep stuff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good afternoon friends! It's time for an update!  
> This is a big chapter, and I think you all will like it! <3 Enjoy!x

Toni woke up on Saturday with the immediate urge to text Cheryl. She wanted to ask if she’d slept okay. She wanted to ask what had been bothering Cheryl so much the day before.

But she didn’t, because she was trying to maintain some semblance of control over herself. Instead she got herself out of bed, headed into her kitchen to make some breakfast for her and Sweet Pea, who was still passed out on her couch. His apartment tour hadn’t gone great the day before—the landlord couldn’t negotiate on the price, and the place had been in a pretty bad condition. Sweet Pea was taking it kind of hard, and Toni felt bad, because she had a feeling that he felt like her space was being invaded.

So after seeing him come back from the tour the day before, she’d told herself that she would be more welcoming and understanding. She was mostly upset initially because it displaced her and Cheryl, but now that the two of them had worked that out, she decided she needed to chill out.

Toni decided on making pancakes, and as she was flipping the last few over, she heard her friend groan as he woke up. “You cooking Tiny?” he grumbled from the couch. “Damn, that smells good.”

“Pancakes,” Toni said happily. “I figured you could use a pick me up this morning.”

“Well, it’s not vodka, but it’ll do.”

“Ha,” Toni said back with an eyeroll. “That’s what going to Fangs’ later is for, right?”

“Right,” he agreed. “I’m gonna use the bathroom and then I’ll be back out.” She heard him disappear into the bathroom, and she finished the last few pancakes before making two plates. When Sweet Pea came back out of the bathroom, he said, “Hey, thanks a lot for making breakfast. I appreciate it.”

“Of course,” Toni said with a smile. “I figured it’s about time that I actually appreciate getting to see you every day. It’s been a while since that happened.”

“Aw, missing home, Tiny?” Sweet Pea teased her, as they both sat at the bar to eat their breakfast.

Toni shook her head. “No way, but I do miss getting to see my best friend all the time.”

“Yeah, time flies, and it’s crazy.”

Toni nodded. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I at least get to see Peaches a couple times a week, but she and I weren’t all that close back home. I’m still surprised she decided to even come to Gale. Same goes for you actually.”

“Well, the five of us made that pact junior year, remember?” Sweet Pea asked with a small smirk. “If all of us got into the same school, we’d all go.”

“Yeah,” Toni agreed, remembering that day fondly. “I can’t believe that actually happened.”

“Yeah, can’t believe you managed to get in anywhere,” Sweet Pea teased ironically.

“Dumbass,” Toni joked. “It’ll be nice to see Jug again, I haven’t all semester. He never comes to parties.”

“You know Jughead,” Sweet Pea said, “he’s not much of a party guy.”

Toni nodded in agreement. “I’m surprised I don’t see him on campus, though. Most of the writing classes are in the Fine Arts Building—Peaches is taking a writing class.” Sweet Pea shrugged. “At least I see Fangs every weekend or so. And we text quite a bit.”

“Oh yeah, you excited to meet his new boyfriend?” Sweet Pea asked.

“I don’t think they’re official yet,” Toni said, “but yeah, I’m excited to meet him. I think it’s hilarious that he’s dating a theater major.”

Sweet Pea chuckled. “Yeah, I totally didn’t see that after Joaquin.”

Toni snickered. “Better not mention Joaquin tonight.”

“Uh yeah, I don’t have a death wish,” Sweet Pea agreed with a laugh. “How are things with you, by the way? Like, on the relationship front.”

Toni shrugged, Cheryl immediately coming to mind and almost pulled a smile onto her face. “They’re not very plentiful. But you know I’m not really looking for anything.”

“Yeah, but you were always dating someone in high school,” Sweet Pea told her. “Let’s see, there was Vera… Kyle… Xavier—I hated him.”

“Oh my god, shut up.”

“Then there were like three different girls senior year,” Sweet Pea continued with a snicker. “I remember Ash, that one was for a while, but the others were mostly just like, hookups right?”

“I hate you.”

“Love you too,” Sweet Pea teased. They were finishing up their breakfast by now. “What’s your plan for the day?”

“I actually have an online tutoring session in a couple of hours,” Toni answered, “but other than that I’m just studying and doing homework until going to Fangs.”

Sweet Pea nodded. “Cool, cool. I think I might actually go onto campus. Try and get some fresh air and maybe just get more focused than I have been.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Toni agreed, “you’ve been kind of cooped up this week.”

Sweet Pea got up to clean up his dishes, and then looked pointedly at Toni, “I guess I’ll just see you at Fangs’ later then?”

“Yep!”

* * *

Toni did spend the day mostly doing homework in her room, and for a few hours she tutored a high school student via a tutoring website that she did occasional work on. It was easy and people paid a decent price for tutoring—especially high schoolers with rich parents who couldn’t stand it if their kid got below an A.

But at five-thirty, Toni changed into some tight jeans, a white tank top, and threw on her favorite leather jacket before tugging on her combat boots, and then she headed for Fangs’. It was about a twenty minute walk away, but she didn’t mind it, and it wasn’t like she could afford to take a cab everywhere all of the time.

The streets were busy, since it was a Saturday evening, but Toni pushed her earbuds into her ears and blocked out the hustle and bustle of New York City as she walked to Fangs’ apartment building. She got there right around six and headed up to his apartment.

When she got there, she wasn’t the first one there—Peaches and Jughead had both beat her.

“Tiny Toni!” Fangs exclaimed brightly as he let her in. “Wait, you didn’t bring Sweets with you?”

“He spent most of the day on campus, actually,” Toni admitted, “trying to get out I guess.”

“Did you kick him out again?” Fangs asked with a smirk.

Toni scoffed. “No! He literally wanted to go to campus, I’m not his keeper.”

“You’ve kicked him out before?” Jughead asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“ _No_ ,” Toni snapped, glaring at Fangs—that was supposed to be between the two of them. “Where’s _Kevin_?”

“He’ll be here soon,” Fangs assured her. “You want a beer or something?”

“Sure.”

It was about fifteen minutes later before Sweet Pea showed up, coming in and going straight for the alcohol in Fangs’ kitchen. “Don’t get drunk before we’ve even met Kevin,” Peaches tutted at him.

“Whatever you say _mom_ ,” Sweet Pea snapped back.

“You two are ridiculous,” Jughead muttered.

“Hey, how’re you classes going, Jug?” Toni asked. “I never see you around the Fine Arts Building.”

“They’re fine. Unfortunately, the only writing class I was able to take this semester for some reason got relocated to the business school building,” Jughead told her, “and the rest of my classes are core, so I’m never in the Fine Arts Building.”

“You could always come visit us,” Peaches told him with a chuckle.

Suddenly, there was a knock on Fangs’ door, and Fangs practically jumped up. Toni tried not to laugh at her friend as he walked over to the door and opened it confidently. “Hey, Kev!” Fangs agreed with a grin, and the guy standing across the threshold grinned back. He had a boyish face and a sunny demeanor about him, and his hair was gelled down neatly. “Come on in. Everyone, this is Kevin. Kevin, this is Sweet Pea, Jughead, Peaches, and Toni.”

“Nice to meet you all,” Kevin said with a smile.

“Nice to meet _you_ ,” Peaches returned, “we’ve all been on the edge of our seats waiting to meet you.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Fangs insisted, rolling his eyes. “She’s not the favorite.”

“I’m the favorite,” Toni said with a little laugh, “nice to meet you, Kevin.”

“Let’s get Kevin a drink,” Jughead said, standing up from where he’d been lounging on the couch, “I think he’s gonna need it tonight.”

About half an hour later, they were all relaxing throughout Fangs’ living area, and Sweet Pea was telling everyone about the memories that he and Toni had been talking about earlier in the day. Toni laughed along with everyone as they all remembered their rough, but fun, high school years. At some point, the conversation dwindled, and Toni glanced at Kevin, feeling like he’d been a little excluded due to the topic.

“So, Kevin,” she said, “you’re a theater major, right?”

“Right, and you’re…”

“Film,” Toni answered.

“Oh, that’s really cool.”

Toni smiled, and then she remembered something from earlier that week, and she asked, “So, I had a conversation with someone earlier this week, and it was made apparent to me that I don’t know the difference between theater and performing arts.”

Kevin laughed a little. “Not much to be honest. Theater is sort of just a more specific category of performing arts, some universities don’t even have a distinction between the two, but since Gale is such a good fine arts school, they split them into two awesome programs. So theater is more like, classical stage performances. Performing arts is theater, plus some more of dance and singing. In theater, there’s plenty of musical theater, and a lot of theater majors will be in the musicals and stuff, but performing arts majors are kind of just less tied to that sort of thing. Some of them are dancers or other kinds of performers.”

Toni nodded slowly, and suddenly the image of Cheryl dancing came into her mind. “Wow, Toni,” Peaches said with a smirk, “I didn’t realize you had an interest in theater all of the sudden.”

Toni rolled her eyes. “What’s wrong with theater?”

Kevin grinned, and Fangs nudged him and said, “I told you Toni’s the best.”

“Hey!” Sweet Pea and Peaches choruses together, and Jughead just shook his head at them.

Conversation shifted away from Toni a few moments later, and she found herself itching to grab her phone and text a certain _performing arts_ major. A couple of beers in by now, she was finding herself with slightly lowered inhibitions, and she gave in, taking her phone out of her pocket and zoning out of the conversation.

**Messaging: CB**

**Toni – I just learned what the difference between theater and performing arts.**

**CB – Well?**

**Toni – It’s like a rectangle square situation. Theater is a performance art but not all performance art is theater. So performing arts majors do more of dancing and singing and other kinds of performing than theater majors.**

**CB – I’m impressed.**

**Toni – So… do you dance?**

**CB – I have been known to dance. Mostly ballet, but I’m hoping to take some different dance and art of dance classes next semester actually.**

**Toni – I bet you’re so hot when you dance.**

**CB – What got you thinking about performing arts anyway?**

**Toni – I just met my friend’s new guy he’s dating, and he’s a theater major. I asked him what the difference was.**

**CB – Such initiative. I guess you’re out somewhere then?**

**Toni – I’m at Fangs’ place yeah.**

**CB – I’m having a movie night with my roommates.**

**Toni – Ooh what are you watching?**

**CB – To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before.**

**Toni – Lol, you enjoying it?**

**CB – Not at all. These new teen romance dramas that are just so heteronormative honestly suck. And who the hell is the guy who plays every male lead in these movies lately?**

**Toni – That would be Noah Scented Mayo!**

**CB – Um, excuse me?**

**Toni – Noah Centineo or, as I like to call him, Noah Scented Mayo. It’s a meme.**

**CB – He’s everywhere, and he’s not even that good looking, is he??**

**Toni – Well, I’m not super attracted to him, but he’s not… _not_ attractive, if you know what I mean?**

**CB – I guess.**

**Toni – I take it you’re not attracted to guys?**

**CB – Not at all.**

**Toni – Lol I don’t blame you. Girls are way hotter ;)**

“What’s up with you?” Fangs suddenly asked, suddenly sitting next to Toni. Toni glanced up, realizing that everyone else had walked over to the kitchen to pour new drinks, and Toni hadn’t even noticed. “Setting up a booty call tonight? Please tell me that you’re going over to their house, because Sweets is not welcome here tonight—I have some… _plans_ with Kev.”

Toni rolled her eyes. “I’m not planning any hookup.”

“Then what’s got you all wrapped up in our phone?” Fangs asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“Nothing,” Toni answered, dropping her locked phone into her lap.

“Sorry I said that thing about you kicking Sweets out of your apartment,” Fangs apologized, “I know you didn’t really _do_ that, and it was like the second night he was staying with you, you were probably just stressed. Although, the fact that you’re less caring about it now tells me that you must be _getting it_ somehow.”

Toni shrugged. “I don’t kiss and tell, Fangs.”

“Not even me?”

“Not even you—not the tell _or_ the kiss part,” Toni joked.

“What are you two talking about over here?” Peaches asked, plopping back down into the chair she’d been sitting in before.

“Discussing Toni’s sex life,” Fangs said, his tone joking even though he was actually being serious.

“Yeah I’m not sure she has much of that,” Sweet Pea joked back, “she’s home every night at reasonable times, alone.”

“So what I’m hearing,” Jughead said, “is that you’re the reason Toni has no sex life right now?”

Sweet Pea shrugged. “I own headphones, it’s her place, I wouldn’t give a shit what she did in her bedroom.”

Toni groaned, and the group laughed. “So how is it, Toni?” Peaches asked, quirking up an eyebrow. “Your sex life. We’re all very curious now.”

“So good,” Toni said back jokingly, smirking a little knowing that it was actually the truth, “hot, fiery, passionate…”

“Okay, okay,” Jughead interrupted, getting laughs from everyone else.

“You guys are hilarious,” Kevin said with a laugh.

“Hey,” Sweet Pea said, “how about we order pizza? I shouldn’t drink much more on an empty stomach.”

“On it,” Jughead agreed enthusiastically, grabbing his phone to make an order. Toni used the moment to get back on her phone.

**CB – Mmhmm.**

**CB – If I’m distracting you from your friends, just say so.**

**Toni – You’re a little distracting, but I like it ;) I texted YOU, remember?**

**CB – Good point…**

**Toni – I wish there was a way we could really distract each other this weekend.**

**CB – Maybe there is.**

**Toni – What is it?**

**CB – It’s Saturday night… most of campus is completely empty…**

**Toni – Ooh, I like what you’re thinking, Blossom…**

**Toni – Anywhere in particular you’ve always wanted to get fucked on campus?**

**CB – Well… we’ve already gotten the Blackbox…**

**Toni – Does that mean you want to get the Theater next?**

**CB – Maybe.**

**Toni – Well, I’ll let you know when I leave Fangs’ tonight and we can meet at the Theater then. Will it be unlocked?**

**CB – Not sure, I’ll come up with a backup plan. How far are you from campus right now?**

**Toni – Like a half hour walk.**

**CB – When you leave, call a cab. I’ll cover it for you when you get to campus.**

**Toni – You don’t have to do that.**

**CB – Call a cab.**

**Toni – Fine.**

**Toni – I’ll tell you when I leave. Probably in a couple hours.**

**CB – Sounds good.**

Toni pocketed her phone, tuning back into the conversation as best as she could.

Their pizza came a little later, and they turned on some dumb TV show that Sweet Pea and Fangs were obsessed with. It was fun to hang out with all of her friends at once for the first time in a while, and Kevin was fun and nice as well. It was about ten when Jughead made the first move to head out for the night, thanking Fangs for the night and saying bye to everyone.

A few minutes after that, Toni decided to make her exit as well. “I think I’ll head out too,” she said, getting up and tossing her empty plastic cup into Fangs’ trash can.

“Aw, why can’t you stay longer?” Peaches asked.

Toni shrugged. “Just feeling kind of tired.”

“Want me to come with?” Sweet Pea asked, but Toni could tell he wanted her to say no.

“No of course not,” she insisted, “you stay and have fun. And come back as late as you want, I’ll probably just be passed out later anyway.”

He nodded. “See you later then, Tiny.”

“It was great to meet you, Toni,” Kevin said with a smile.

“You too!” Toni chimed with a smile. “See you all later, thanks for having us all over Fangs.”

“Of course! You know you all are welcome literally any time.”

Toni smiled, gave everyone a wave, and then left the apartment, heading down to the ground floor and out onto the street as she texted Cheryl.

**Messaging: CB**

**Toni – Leaving now, about to get a cab.**

**CB – Okay, I’m leaving too.**

Despite the time, it was still pretty busy on the streets, which wasn’t unexpected. She flagged down a cab fairly easily, though, and quickly told the cabbie that she wanted to get to campus. The ride was short, and when she got there, she forked over some cash to the guy, and then started toward the Gale Theater.

**Toni – Headed to the theater.**

**CB – Okay, I’m almost to campus.**

Toni got to the Gale Theater and tried the main entrance, finding it locked. She bit the inside of her lip, and made her way to the entrance of the Fine Arts Building. The door was also locked.

**Toni – Can’t get into the Fine Arts Building.**

**CB – I think my student ID might let us in. Gimme a minute.**

Toni leaned against the outside of the building, waiting for Cheryl. A couple minutes later, she heard the clicking of heels, and looked up to see Cheryl headed her way. Of course, despite the girl having come from a movie night, Cheryl was wearing skinny jeans, a black crop top, her cropped red faux fur coat, bright red lipstick and tall red heels. Toni stood up a little straighter when she saw her approaching. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Cheryl answered, fumbling with the small red purse she had over her shoulder, pulling out a small wallet. “Let me try this.” She brought her ID card up to the card scanner by the door to the Fine Arts Building, and sure enough, the little light on it flickered green.

“How come yours does that?” Toni asked, lifting an eyebrow as they entered the building.

“I think because musical rehearsals can go really late, they do it for everyone involved.”

“You’re in the musical?” Toni asked curiously, a little surprised that she somehow didn’t know that before.

Cheryl glanced at her. “Yes. Come on.” Chery guided them through the building to the entrance to the Blackbox, finding it unlocked and empty. They then navigate through onto the stage. The Theater was practically pitch black aside from small lights from all of the tech stuff throughout backstage.

“What’s the musical this semester?” Toni asked curiously.

“Urinetown,” Cheryl responded.

“You’re In Town?” Toni wasn’t sure she’d ever heard of it.

“No, _urine_ ,” Cheryl corrected. Yeah, she definitely hadn’t ever heard of that.

“Sounds weird,” Toni teased.

Cheryl chuckled. “Yeah, it’s a kind of weird plot. But it’s fun.”

“Well maybe it’ll be the first musical I ever watch,” Toni said. “So… where do you think the best spot is, Blossom? Since you clearly know this place a lot better than I do…”

“There’s not a whole lot of _comfortable_ spots I can think of,” Cheryl answered slowly, “although the house seats aren’t half bad…”

“Hmm…” Toni grabbed Cheryl’s hand in the dark, pulling her through backstage and out onto the stage. Her eyes were adjusting a little, but it was still incredibly dark. She guided Cheryl to the center of the stage, and then turned to face the redhead, trying to focus on her eyes in the dark. “How about front and center?”

Cheryl let out a quiet, shaky breath, and she nodded ever so slightly. Toni licked her lips, then leaned her head up and pressed their lips together. The kiss was slow—maybe slower than any kiss the two of them had ever shared. It was oddly nice, and Toni reveled in how soft and plump Cheryl’s lips were.

She brought her hands to Cheryl’s waist, dragging them to her front to unbutton the jeans that Cheryl had on. She then slid her hands under her waistband, stretching them around Cheryl to rest her palms against Cheryl’s ass, squeezing firmly. Cheryl let out a little moan, and the kiss between them finally intensified.

Toni squeezed Cheryl’s ass some more, then dragged her hands up along Cheryl’s sides, underneath her crop top and coat. Deciding the coat was too much, she started to push it off of the girl, and Cheryl helped, tossing it off to the side of the stage before starting to take Toni’s leather jacket off of her as well. Toni obeyed, letting it fall off of her as well. And finally, Toni brought her hand down between Cheryl’s thighs.

Cheryl let out a shaky moan, arching her back a little. “Toni, I can’t do this just standing…”

“So lay down,” Toni instructed.

That’s how they ended up sprawled across the center of the stage, Toni’s fingers knuckle deep inside of Cheryl and her lips on Cheryl’s neck, lipstick and lip-gloss forgotten. Cheryl was gasping and moaning louder than normal, probably since she wasn’t really worried about anyone finding them. It was so hot, and Toni wished they could have this kind of seclusion all of the time—and preferably in a real bed.

As Toni began to drive Cheryl toward her orgasm, she suddenly felt Cheryl’s hands unbuttoning her pants. She didn’t think much of it until Cheryl’s fingers were sliding through her folds, and Toni let out a shaky breath. “How am I supposed to focus on fucking you while you do that?”

“Figure it out,” Cheryl whispered through her heavy breaths, “because you don’t get to come until I come.”

“Is this supposed to be payback for me making you wait last night?” Toni murmured, gasping at the end of the sentence as Cheryl pressed against her clit. Cheryl didn’t answer, picking up her pace against Toni instead, sliding two fingers inside of her. Toni’s fingers against Cheryl stilled for a moment, and then Cheryl’s fingers began motionless as well. “Fuck, Blossom.”

“You heard me, Topaz,” Cheryl said back firmly, “you don’t get to come until I come.”

Toni nodded, starting her movements again. It was hard to keep up the motion as Cheryl touched her, especially considering the fact that Toni was mostly supporting herself above the other girl.

She felt herself getting so close, so she delved her fingers ever deeper into Cheryl, curling them strategically and hoping that Cheryl would finally come so that she could as well. “I’m so close, Toni,” Cheryl moaned out. Toni bit down on her lip, pressing her thumb into Cheryl’s clit as her fingers curled right just right inside of her, and Cheryl immediately gasped, her back arching and her thighs tightening around Toni’s wrist as she came. Her fingers inside Toni, though, completely stilled as she came, and Toni heard herself whimper as they did.

“Cheryl,” she pleaded, as Cheryl began to come down from her orgasm, “you said—”

Before she could finish, Cheryl’s fingers moved abruptly inside of her, and Toni felt her orgasm rip through her immediately. She let out a deep moan, and then practically collapsed on top of Cheryl.

“Fuck,” Toni breathed out. “That was really hot.”

“Mm,” Cheryl hummed in agreement, and Toni thought she felt Cheryl’s hair playing with strands of her hair. “You just gonna lay on top of me?”

“Gimme a second,” Toni murmured, “my poor left arm had to hold me up that whole time.”

Cheryl chuckled, and a moment later Toni climbed off of her. They both buttoned their pants, but neither of them stood up, instead they just in the middle of the huge stage. Toni let out a breath, laying down on her back and staring up at the infrastructure above the stage. “What are you doing?”

“Laying.”

Cheryl let out a little laugh, and she laid back next to Toni. “Why?”

“Because I’m tired,” Toni answered with a laugh, “and maybe a little tipsy by the way.” After eating dinner, she’d only had a couple more beers in the few hours she’d been at Fangs’, but the alcohol was definitely still in her system. “Where did you tell your roommates you were going, by the way? They must’ve noticed you leaving.”

“Nothing,” Cheryl answered. “They didn’t see me leave. They were both in the shower.”

“You have two showers at your apartment?” Toni asked in shock. She could feel Cheryl hesitate for a second before she spoke again.

“We have three full bathrooms,” Cheryl admitted.

“How the hell?” Toni demanded.

Cheryl let out a breath. “Our families… well, particularly mine and one of my roommate’s family… well… we come from money.”

“Damn,” Toni said, shaking her head a little. “I can barely afford my apartment. I have a full ride to Gale, plus a stipend, plus student loans, and that almost exactly covers paying rent. Thankfully, I don’t have to work a lot, but I still do a little bit so I can have some amount of spending money. Also like, food.”

Cheryl was quiet for a moment, and then she said, “Speaking of, don’t let me forget to give you cash for your cab ride. How much was it?”

“Like twelve bucks. It’s fine.”

“No, really,” Cheryl insisted, “I know you usually walk places.”

“Thanks.”

“And I’ll pay for your cab home?”

“I can’t let you do that.”

“Well then how about you just join me in my cab home, and we’ll stop by your apartment? It’s on the way, I swear.”

Toni was quiet for a second. She didn’t want money from Cheryl, but if Cheryl was already going to take a cab… “Fine,” she agreed, “but that’s not a thing. I don’t need money from you.”

“I know,” Cheryl said, “but I’m the one who suggested we come to campus, and I’m the one who didn’t want you to walk here so we could be here sooner. So just let me cover the cabs.”

“Okay.”

They were quiet for a few minutes, and Toni found herself feeling a little anxious over the conversation they’d just had. Trying to combat it, she decided to say what she was thinking.

“Don’t think of me any different because of my money situation,” she whispered.

“Don’t think of _me_ any different because of mine,” Cheryl countered.

“No offense, but I kind of figured you had some decent amount of money. Your entire wardrobe screams money.”

Cheryl chuckled. “No offense to you, but I can recognize five dollar red wine and polyester sheets. I knew you didn’t have a ton of money.”

“Gee, glad is shows,” Toni muttered with an eyeroll.

“Toni,” Cheryl said firmly, “for the record, five dollar red wine is way better than I expected, and after a while, polyester sheets don’t feel all that different. _And_ , I personally adore your wardrobe.”

Toni felt a small smile creep onto her face. “So… if money isn’t really an issue for you, why do you have two roommates?”

“I haven’t always been so great at getting out,” Cheryl admitted. “I grew up with a shitty family, and…” The girl took in a deep breath, and Toni furrowed her eyebrows. “I had a twin brother, we did everything together. But… a few days before we turned thirteen, there was an accident… he got really hurt, and he didn’t make it.”

“Holy shit,” Toni whispered, rolling onto her side so that she could face Cheryl. “Cheryl… I’m so sorry.”

Cheryl gave her a small smile. “Thank you. It was really hard. Without him, I felt like I couldn’t fit in anywhere. We’d always done _everything_ together. And my family… they didn’t help the grieving process at all. I’m not close with my parents. And my brother and I, we shared most of our friends too, and anyone who had been close to him as well drifted away from me after he died. Or maybe I drifted away from them. The only friend I felt like I had left was Veronica—one of my roommates and, I guess, my best friend. She knew that I had to cope in whatever way I could, but after months of holing myself up, she started getting me out again. She’s always been there for me, and when we both got into school here, along with her friend Betty, the two of them wanted the three of us to live together. And I was thinking about just getting a place to myself, but I knew that I’m the most likely to end up busying myself with school and nothing else, so I figured if I chose to live with them, I would at least have them around to socialize with.”

“That makes sense,” Toni whispered, watching the girl’s face closely. Her pale face sort of glowed in the darkness, and Toni could easily make out the somewhat solemn expression on her face. “I’m so sorry about your brother.”

“It’s okay,” Cheryl insisted. “That was a long time ago, I’ve had plenty of time to grieve.”

Toni nodded slightly. “I don’t know what it’s like to lose someone that close to you—it doesn’t get much closer than a _twin_ … but I lost my dad when I was little. He got really sick… I was about six when he passed away.”

“And your mom?” Cheryl whispered.

Toni frowned. “She skipped town after I was born. My uncle and my grandfather—who both sort of raised me after my dad died—said she was a junkie, and not mature enough to handle a kid.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Thanks,” Toni said softly. “My grandfather and my uncle didn’t do a horrible job with me, my grandpa and I have always been pretty close, although my uncle and I used to fight all the time when I was in high school. I should visit them sometime, probably, but I don’t love going back home and without a car, traveling out of the city is a big hassle. But anyway—what really got me through everything was my friends, too. We all made this pact in our junior year of high school that if we somehow all got into the same college, that’s where we would go.”

“And you all did?”

“Yeah,” Toni answered with a nod. “There’s Sweet Pea, the one who’s staying with me right now, he’s doing mechanical engineering. Fangs is doing civil engineering. Then there’s my friend Peaches, she’s a journalism major. Then there’s Jughead, he’s a creative writing major.”

“And then you,” Cheryl said, “film major.”

Toni nodded, a small smile coming to her lips. “Yeah.”

“Veronica—she’s the one you’ve seen me with, in the Fine Arts Building—she’s a business major.”

Toni lifted an eyebrow. “What class is she taking with you that’s in the Fine Arts Building?”

“I convinced her to take an acting class as one of her electives,” Cheryl admitted with a chuckle. “And then Betty is a criminology major.”

“That’s cool,” Toni said, and then another person popped into her head. She glanced around the stage a little. “How about that one girl we saw here last Tuesday? You said she’s a friend right?” Cheryl let out a deep sigh, and Toni felt bad about being curious. “Sorry. You don’t have to tell me.”

“Josie. She was a really good friend,” Cheryl admitted, “but we aren’t close anymore.”

“Gotcha,” Toni said quietly.

“But we’re both in the musical together,” Cheryl continued, “so we see each other sometimes. We actually… kind of had a fight yesterday, after my rehearsal call time.”

“Is that what you needed me to distract you from?” Cheryl nodded. “Well, I’m sorry. Friend drama is hard to navigate. Wish I had some real advice to give you.”

“It’s not…” Cheryl trailed off, and then she shook her head, sitting up suddenly. “It’s not just friend drama. It’s…” Toni sat up as well, wondering what Cheryl meant by that, but then the girl just shook her head. “I don’t really want to talk about it, actually.”

“Okay, that’s totally fine,” Toni told her, carefully placing her hand on top of Cheryl’s, hoping it didn’t freak her out. “Sorry I asked.”

“It’s okay,” Cheryl told her. Cheryl’s gaze met Toni’s, and they stared at each other for a second. Their faces gravitated toward each other’s for a moment, until their lips met in a soft kiss. It was gentle and sweet and slow, and without any intention. It was the first time that they’d ever kissed without planning to have sex after, and there was a noticeable difference in how it felt, and in how it made Toni feel. Her heart fluttered, and her lips tingled, and she felt like she could just melt into Cheryl.

But it ended a few seconds later, and Cheryl glanced down at her lap. “Maybe it’s time we call it a night?”

“Maybe,” Toni agreed. “Hey, are you okay? I’m sorry that we… talked about some hard stuff.”

“I’m okay,” Cheryl insisted, starting to stand up. Toni followed suit, and they started back the way they came. Toni wanted to grab Cheryl’s hand and squeeze it reassuringly, but she didn’t want to freak her out, so she just followed.

They walked off campus and to the busy road that ran by it, and Cheryl hailed a cab. When they got in, Cheryl gave the cabbie Toni’s address, and Toni knew that she shouldn’t be surprised that she knew it, but it brought a smile to her face anyway. The cabbie started driving, and Cheryl grabbed out a ten dollar bill and two ones, handing them to Toni, who gave her a quiet thanks. When the cab pulled up to her apartment building a few minutes later, she gave Cheryl a small smile. “Thanks for tonight.”

“Yeah,” Cheryl returned. “See you Tuesday?”

“Definitely.”

And with that, Toni headed up to her apartment, and the cab took off toward wherever it was that Cheryl lived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any guesses for Cheryl or Toni's next moves???  
> Thank you guys for the comments on the last chapter! Feel free to leave anymore or follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana and tweet or DM me anytime, I love to chat :)  
> I hope you all are having a lovely weekend, and that you all have a great week. I will definitely either update today or tomorrow, so stay tuned :)


	9. Club Bathroom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl tries to distance herself from Toni.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Wednesday everyone! Well, I for one am happy that the weekend is a little closer. I've been so stressed y'all, like I can't even explain. When August finally gets here, and I'm done having to deal with most of the shit I'm dealing with right now, I might do a Periscope for anyone interested in hearing all of the stuff that's been going down!  
> Anyway! The second half of the chapter was really fun to write, so even though it may not be the fluffiest chapter, I hope you will enjoy it ahah. xx

Sunday morning, Cheryl found herself staring up at her ceiling, filled with so many feelings surrounding the previous few days. She’d fought with Josie on Friday, which had hurt and brought up bad memories, but had probably been for the best in the long run. And then she’d texted with Toni the night before, and they’d gone to the Gale Theater and had sex, right there on the stage. But it hadn’t just been sex. They’d laid there talking, more than they’d ever talked before, about things Cheryl hardly ever talked to with anyone. Somehow, being around Toni had made her feel safe enough to talk about her _brother_ , who she rarely talked about and rarely even thought about most days. She’d been so close to starting high school when it happened that it was simultaneously easy and difficult to imagine what life would be like with him alive, so rather than get caught up in it, she tried not to think about it much anymore.

And Toni had opened up to her too. Cheryl had not only appreciated that, but she found herself wanting to know more about her, wanting to comfort her as they talked about her parents. And then they’d talked about Josie… and Cheryl was surprised she said as much as she did about her. But she couldn’t have brought herself to tell Toni about what happened, because she didn’t want Toni to think about what stemmed Cheryl wanting all of these rules for a simple hookup relationship. Toni had been so understanding about Cheryl not wanting to talk about it, and then… and then there was that _kiss._ It had made her heart stop and gave her goosebumps. She couldn’t remember the last time a kiss made her feel like that.

She could tell that her feelings were growing, and it was scaring her. Every time she’d had feelings for someone, she’d lost that person. Most recently with Josie, of course, but that wasn’t the first time, and Cheryl would be damned if she let it happen to her again. She needed to get her feelings in control.

She grabbed her phone and went onto the Gale Library’s website, booking a study room for Tuesday. She decided that she would ignore her feelings on Tuesday, and that it would just be sex. No studying together, no talking about deep topics, no excessive talking and joking around. It would be _just_ sex, like it was meant to be. That was a whole rule, after all. Taking in a deep breath, she pushed aside any thoughts about that kiss she and Toni had shared, and the feeling of Toni’s hand resting softly on top of hers. She forbade herself from thinking about it, and then she got up, ready to start the day.

* * *

Cheryl didn’t text Toni on Sunday or Monday, and Toni didn’t text her either. Cheryl wondered if Toni was also thinking about Saturday, and deciding that they’d pushed against that last rule too much. She figured that must be the case, otherwise Toni probably would’ve texted her at least once.

So by Tuesday, Cheryl decided that she and Toni must be on the same page. Tuesday morning, Cheryl quickly texted Toni to tell her what study room she had booked, and that was it. She walked past Toni before her acting class, and although she could feel Toni’s gaze on her for a moment, Cheryl didn’t make eye contact. It felt weird to avoid it, but she knew that she needed to keep herself under control.

After her class, Cheryl said goodbye to Veronica and headed for the library. Normally, at this time of a Tuesday or Thursday, she would be feeling a sense of excitement from the promiscuity of what she was about to go and do, but today she felt weighed down by her thoughts. Still, she made her way to the study room.

Toni got there only a few seconds after her, knocking on the door. Cheryl took in a breath, and opened the door. She didn’t give Toni the chance to say anything, pulling her inside and flipping off the light in one quick motion. She pushed Toni up against the wall, slamming their lips together and starting to unbutton Toni’s pants. She was too caught up in her own thoughts to feel like she could actually come herself, so she decided she would focus on Toni today.

Toni made a small noise, and then pulled their lips a part. “Uh—hello to you too.”

“No talking,” Cheryl murmured, “just let me fuck you.”

“Mm, okay…”

Cheryl stuck her hand down Toni’s pants, underneath her underwear, and pressed her fingers against Toni’s center. The smaller girl gasped a little, and Cheryl bit down on her lower lip, picking up the pace and not wasting a single second. She kept reminding herself that today was supposed to be quick and dirty, like how it had started. _Just sex_.

It didn’t take long for Toni to get close, and soon enough, she reached her orgasm, and Cheryl finally slowed down, letting her ride it out all the way through. And when Toni finally let out a breath of relief, Cheryl slid her hand out of Toni’s pants. “Damn, Blossom,” Toni said, “you wanted to get down to business today, huh?” Toni started to reach for Cheryl’s waistband, but Cheryl stepped back.

“Not me today,” Cheryl said.

“Okay…” Toni blinked. “Are you okay?”

“Fine, I just need to get going.”

“Oh—okay. Wait, are you sure you’re okay? You seem pretty stressed.”

“I have a lot to do,” Cheryl lied, “and I just need to go, okay?”

“Okay…”

Cheryl let out a breath, feeling a little bad for how short she was sounding, but she knew that she needed to make her point clearly. “Rule number five, Toni.”

Toni frowned, buttoning her pants. “Yeah, I know the fucking rules, Cheryl.” Cheryl hoped that Toni wasn’t actually that mad—they were following the rules, after all. Cheryl opened the door to the study room, then looked back at Toni.

“I’ll see you on Thursday?”

“Yeah,” Toni answered half-heartedly, leaving the study room. Cheryl took in a deep breath, ignoring the slight pain in her chest, and then followed a minute later. She went to the bathroom to wash her hands, and then she headed back to the front of the library, returning the key and mumbling something about her group member not having time to meet up after all, hoping they wouldn’t wonder why she’d only checked out a room for like, ten minutes.

* * *

On Wednesday, while Cheryl was sitting in the Blackbox waiting for her call time in about ten minutes, Cheryl got a text from Toni—who she had been trying not to think about since the day before.

**Messaging: TT**

**TT – Hey, you doing better today?**

**Cheryl – What do you mean?**

**TT – You seemed upset yesterday.**

**Cheryl – I’m fine, and I was fine yesterday. Just didn’t have long to meet up.**

**TT – Well, are you going to have more time tomorrow?**

**Cheryl – Hopefully.**

Cheryl already knew that she wouldn’t, because she needed them to go back to the way things were before, before feelings were controlling things. Still, she didn’t want to piss Toni off and totally call off their whole hookup relationship. She didn’t want to stop having sex with Toni.

**TT – Okay.**

**TT – What are you up to?**

**Cheryl – Waiting for my call time for rehearsal.**

**TT – That’s cool.**

**TT – Btw I looked up Urinetown. It actually sounds kinda interesting.**

**Cheryl – Yeah, it’s pretty cool.**

**TT – Who are you playing?**

Cheryl sighed. She wanted to stop this conversation, because the more she talked to Toni, the more she felt her feelings. But she also couldn’t help but find it endearing that Toni had looked up Urinetown just because Cheryl was in it.

**Cheryl – Penelope Pennywise.**

**TT – Oh nice, that’s like, one of the major roles, right?**

**Cheryl – Yeah it is.**

She took in a deep breath, and decided that she needed to stop texting Toni now.

**Cheryl – Hey, it’s my call time now so I have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow though. I booked a study room already. Room 135.**

**TT – Sounds good. Have a good rehearsal.**

Cheryl took in a deep breath and slipped her phone into her backpack, even though she still had a few minutes. As she sat there waiting, the door from backstage opened up, and a few girls came through who were likely just finishing up their rehearsal. Josie was among them.

“Hey Cheryl,” one of the other girls chimed happily, “how’re you?”

“I’m okay,” Cheryl answered. She and Josie avoided eye contact. “How was rehearsal?”

“Good, but we’re gonna go get pizza. I’d ask you if you wanted to join, but obviously it’s your turn to rehearse now,” the girl said with a chuckle. “See you Friday?”

“Yeah,” Cheryl confirmed with a nod, assuming the two of them must have the same call time that day. As the girls grabbed their stuff and headed out, Cheryl headed backstage, hoping to lose herself in rehearsal.

* * *

On Thursday morning, Cheryl couldn’t do it.

She kept picturing herself going back to the study room, meeting with Toni, and making up a reason that she couldn’t stay long. She pictured herself trying to ignore Toni’s smile and happy greeting that she always gave her, and trying not to think about how bad she knew she would feel after practically running off afterward. She just couldn’t do it, and although she didn’t want to cancel, maybe what she needed was a few days of a break.

So during her first class on Thursday morning, she found herself texting Toni.

**Messaging: TT**

**Cheryl – Hey, something came up today and I can’t make it. I already canceled the study room reservation.**

**TT – Alright, is everything okay?**

**Cheryl – Fine, I just have somewhere I need to be.**

**TT – Okay, I get it. Hope whatever it is goes okay.**

Cheryl let out a breath. She knew that Toni must be upset, but this was good, this was for the best. She was sure that it must be. Her feelings were growing too strong, and she needed to put a halt to them, before they started to really cause problems.

* * *

On Friday, at musical rehearsal, Cheryl was happy to see that she didn’t share the same call time as Josie. She still felt a little out of focus during rehearsal, though, noticing that she made more mistakes in her singing and blocking for the song they were practicing, and she had a feeling that had to do with the fact that her brain had felt more and more scattered after skipping her meetup with Toni the previous day. Neither of them had texted each other since then, and Cheryl kept wondering what Toni was thinking, even though she knew that it shouldn’t matter to her.

When rehearsal ended, Margaret bounded over to Cheryl with a grin, and Cheryl hoped that whatever she was about to say wasn’t going to have anything to do with Josie. “Hey, Cheryl! There’s this party happening at this club near campus, it’s sort of a theater and performing arts thing, and I wanted to let you know in case you wanted to come. And you can feel free to invite anyone, too—non majors are welcome.”

“Oh,” Cheryl in surprise, “what club?”

“It’s that eighteen and up club at the end of the block across from campus,” Margaret answered, “since so many people on campus are under twenty-one. Sage and Beth and I and maybe a few others are gonna head over there now, if you wanna come with?”

Cheryl hesitated. She wasn’t usually one to go out and party with people she didn’t know super well—as she’d told Toni the weekend before, she wasn’t very good at getting out. But she figured she could text Betty and Veronica and invite them, and maybe it would be a good opportunity to get to know some more people from the musical. “Okay,” she heard herself agree. “Sure, let me grab my stuff.”

As Cheryl headed back into the Blackbox to grab her stuff, she quickly sent a text to her roommates.

**Messaging: Ronnie and Betty**

**Cheryl – Wanna come to a party at a club by campus? It’s gonna be mostly theater and performing arts majors but one of my castmates said anyone is welcome, and for some reason I agreed to go, so I need backup in case Josie is there.**

**Ronnie – You know I’m always down to party!**

**Betty – I’m still with my group for my stupid biology class. I’ll make it if I can. Send address?**

**Cheryl – Okay I’ll send it. I’m heading there now from campus, Ronnie, so meet me there whenever.**

She quickly found and sent the address of the club that Margaret was talking about, and then she headed back out onto the stage, where a group of seven people were gathering to head to the club. “I’m gonna get wasted,” she heard one of them—Tyler—say. “It’s almost midterms and I need it.”

“You sure you don’t wanna save getting wasted for _after_ midterms?” Sage asked with a smirk.

“Why not both?” Margaret asked with a laugh. “Okay, I think that’s everyone who’s coming with right now. Let’s go.”

The group headed across campus, walking out the main entrance where a huge, fancy sign read “Gale University – Home of the Griffons.” The walk from there to the club was really short, and as soon as they’d entered said club, the party really started.

Tyler ordered a round of shots for everyone as they all grouped around the bar, and Cheryl took hers down without much complaint. “Who else is coming?”

“No idea,” Margaret answered, “but there was a text sent out to a ton of theater majors earlier today, so I’m sure there will be plenty of people.”

“So, Cheryl,” Beth asked suddenly, “I feel like none of us know much about you. You’re a sophomore, right?”

“Yes,” Cheryl’s answered.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” Tyler asked, a dopey grin on his face.

“No,” Cheryl answered, “but I am a lesbian, so I don’t see there being a boyfriend in the picture, like, ever.”

“Ooh,” Sage said, lifting an eyebrow—maybe she wasn’t straight, but Cheryl wouldn’t know, “girlfriend, then?”

“Nope.”

Suddenly, another group of people were coming up to the bar, and most of the attention was moved away from Cheryl. Except for from Sage, who sidled up next to her and said, “So, you’re single?”

“Yeah,” Cheryl answered, lifting an eyebrow.

“Do you ever give more than one word answers?” Sage asked, laughing and scooting even closer to Cheryl. “Do you wanna get out of here?”

Cheryl let out a breath. “I don’t really do that sort of thing.”

“Well, at least dance with me?” Sage asked. Cheryl looked Sage up and down once—she wasn’t bad looking. But Cheryl hardly knew her, and she wasn’t that attractive. Plus, even though she _was_ single… the thought of getting that _close_ to anyone who wasn’t Toni was very uncomfortable. Still, Cheryl knew that was because of her feelings—and maybe it would be a good way to get her thoughts off of Toni?

Before she could answer, though, she suddenly heard her best friend call out, “Cher!” Cheryl turned her head away from Sage and saw Veronica coming up to her. “Hey, girl. Betty texted again saying she won’t be able to make it, but I’m here and I’m ready to get drunk.” Veronica seemed to notice Sage all of the sudden, and she said, “Hi, I’m Veronica! You’re in the musical with Cheryl?”

“Sage,” Sage answered, with a tight lipped smile. “I guess I’ll see you later, Cheryl.” Cheryl just nodded, and Veronica replaced Sage in the spot next to her.

“Sorry, did I interrupt something?” Veronica wondered.

“She was coming onto me,” Cheryl answered, “but it wasn’t going to happen anyway.”

“Oh,” Veronica said, “well, I personally think that it might help you get over everything that happened last semester if you hooked up with someone.”

“I know that you think that, Ronnie.”

“How many drinks have you had?”

“Just one shot.”

Veronica called the bartender over and ordered another two shots. “To the weekend!” Veronica exclaimed, and Cheryl quirked a small smile as the two of them took back their shots, slamming the glass back onto the counter.

Half an hour later found Cheryl dancing in the main area of the club with Veronica and some of the girls from the musical, two more shots in by now. Sage kept trying to dance right up next to her, but Cheryl would simply give her a fake smile and then turn back toward Veronica. She was sure that Sage was going to get the message eventually, but before she did, Cheryl found herself wanting to get some air anyway. Her four shots were getting to her. “I’m gonna go to the bar,” she told Veronica over the music.

“Okay, text me if you need me!” Veronica shouted back. Cheryl nodded, and started to make her way toward the bar. As she did, she suddenly heard a voice that she definitely hadn’t expected to hear.

“I can’t believe you convinced me to come with you,” Toni’s voice was saying loudly, over the noise, to someone else. Cheryl glanced over her shoulder, seeing the pink haired girl next to a guy she recognized as Fangs from the other party.

“Well, Kevin mentioned that lots of theater people were gonna be here and I didn’t want to be alone when I meet some of his friends for the first time,” Fang said back to her.

“You mean exactly the way you did to him?” Toni asked with a smirk.

“This is extremely different, Tiny!”

Cheryl smirked a little at the nickname, her gaze settling on Toni’s face for a few seconds, but as soon as she saw Toni’s warm eyes meet hers, she pulled hers away.

“Go find Kevin,” Toni’s voice said, “I’ll catch up when I feel drunk enough.”

“Fine!”

Suddenly, Toni was standing next to Cheryl, just a few inches away. She called the bartender over and ordered a beer. Once she had the drink, Cheryl half expected her to just walk off, but she stayed standing next to Cheryl for a few seconds. Cheryl thought maybe she would say something, but it didn’t seem like she was going to. Cheryl finally turned her dark eyes toward Toni, and felt her body wake up as she took in the girl’s dark makeup and her outfit, her typical tight pants and tank top, with some necklaces on and her leather jacket over her shoulders. Suddenly, Cheryl couldn’t remember why on Earth she’d skipped out on their hookup the day before.

She cleared her throat, looking straight ahead again, and just said, “I’m going to use the _bathroom_.”

She turned on her heel and started to the back of the club. She entered the women’s restroom to see that there were three stalls, and all of them were currently empty. She took in a breath, standing in front of the mirror to wait.

Only a few seconds later, the restroom door swung open, and Toni walked in. “Hello to you, too,” she greeted.

Cheryl turned to look at her, and for a second, she remembered why she shouldn’t be doing this. Her feelings. The warmth that she felt when she saw Toni smile or laugh. Feelings were bad, that’s what her past relationships had taught her. So she shouldn’t be here, not while her feelings were still happening.

But then she forgot again, and she bit down on her lower lip for a second, before finally saying, “Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to pull me into one of those stalls and fuck me, Topaz?”

Toni smirked, taking a step closer to Cheryl and grabbing her wrist. She gently tugged Cheryl into one of the small bathroom stalls, closing and locking it purposefully, and pushing Cheryl back against the wall. “Missed you yesterday,” Toni said with a lifted eyebrow, “you sure you’re good?”

“Of course,” Cheryl insisted, “why wouldn’t I be?”

“Just, I know we talked about some heavy shit last weekend, and then you—”

“Toni,” Cheryl interrupted, “why are we talking about this right now when you could be fucking me?”

“Point taken,” Toni murmured, and although Cheryl wasn’t convinced that she’d completely gotten Toni off of her case, she did temporarily distract her. Toni brought their lips together, and any part of Cheryl that wasn’t already awake was now. She tangled her hands into Toni’s hair, gripping it tightly as Toni’s tongue forced its way into her mouth. This was the kind of kiss that was okay—fast and purely sexual. The kiss from the previous weekend, that had been a mistake. Toni reached to unbutton Cheryl’s pants, but Cheryl was wearing leggings, and upon realizing it, Toni murmured, “This is convenient.”

“I came from musical rehearsal,” Cheryl breathed out in explanation. Toni didn’t say anything, instead just sliding her hand inside Cheryl’s leggings, bringing her fingers firmly against her folds. “Fuck, Toni,” Cheryl whispered out.

“Shh,” Toni hushed her, as her fingers continued to move against her.

Suddenly, the main restroom door swung open, and it sounded like a few girls walked in. One of them was talking, and Cheryl’s eyes immediately widened as she realized that they were the girls she’d come to the club with. Toni’s fingers stopped moving for a moment, and the two of them went silent as they listened.

“This was a great idea,” Margaret was saying. “Although I’m pretty sure Tyler and Nick both already left to go hook up with someone.”

“Do you think Cheryl left?” Sage.

Toni lifted an eyebrow at Cheryl, who bit down on her lower lip, hoping that the group wouldn’t talk about her very long.

“Her friend is still here,” Beth answered. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if you scared her off. You were a little forward.”

“Can you blame me? I already knew she was hot, but I had no idea that she was a lesbian until she said something,” Sage exclaimed. Toni smirked, and suddenly her fingers started moving again. Cheryl bit down hard on her lip to keep from making any noise as her breathing started to pick up again. “She’s so mysterious, though, I feel like unless she’s actively rehearsing, she doesn’t say much.”

“She’s friends with Josie,” Beth said, “you could probably ask her about her.”

Cheryl could hardly focus on the conversation happening about her as Toni’s fingers delved inside her, and small noise escaped her throat. Thankfully, no one seemed to hear it.

“I think they got into a fight last week,” Margaret said. “I saw them talking and they both looked pissed.” As she finished saying it, Toni’s thumb hit her clit, and it took all of Cheryl’s willpower to not moan.

“Weird,” Sage said. “But she said she doesn’t really do the hookup thing, so maybe it’s not worth trying.”

“Oh—Josie texted me, she’s here,” Margaret said, “let’s go.”

The three girls exited the restroom, and Cheryl finally let herself moan a little at the feeling of Toni working her closer to orgasm. “What was that about?” Toni asked in a low voice.

“Sage—she made—she made a pass at me today,” Cheryl said, barely able to speak as she got closer to her orgasm. “And she kept—” Toni curled her fingers slightly inside of her, getting her so close to coming but not letting giving her the relief she needed. “Toni,” she whimpered.

“What did she keep doing?” Toni asked, her fingers slowing just enough to make Cheryl whimper again.

“She kept trying to dance u—up next to me,” Cheryl said, “p-please, Toni…”

“Shh,” Toni hushed, “don’t worry, Blossom, I’m going to let you come.”

As she said it, she finally gave Cheryl exactly what she needed, and Cheryl’s orgasm began abruptly. Her back arched a little as the orgasm tore through her, and then she came down, her breathing still uneven. “Fuck.”

“You’re so good at being quiet,” Toni observed with a smirk. “Who were those girls?”

“They’re in the musical,” Cheryl answered, through her uneven breaths, “I came to the party with them.”

“One of them has a crush on you,” Toni teased.

“She just wants to fuck me,” Cheryl answered, “and that’s not unusual.”

Toni smirked. “Confident as ever.”

“I’m just saying,” Cheryl breathed out.

“So how come you didn’t hook up with her?” Toni’s voice came out more serious now.

“She’s not my type,” Cheryl answered—which was true, although there was more to the truth than just that.

“Mmhmm, what’s your type then, Blossom?” Toni teased, her hands slipping around to Cheryl’s ass.

Cheryl bit down on her lip as she met Toni’s eyes. “That’s need to know information.”

“My bad,” Toni whispered jokingly. “So… is it cool if I bring up last weekend now?”

Cheryl sighed. “There’s nothing to talk about, Toni.”

“Just, you seemed really off on Tuesday, and then you canceled on Thursday—”

“I had somewhere to be.”

Toni lifted an eyebrow. “Where?” Cheryl opened her mouth to make something up, but nothing came out. “Look, I know last weekend was… intense.”

“I just didn’t expect us to talk about all that stuff,” Cheryl admitted quietly. “And I think… we pushed rule five a little.”

Toni nodded slowly. “Yeah.” When Cheryl didn’t say anything, Toni continued, “So you wanted to get some distance this week.”

“I guess,” Cheryl whispered. Toni looked like she wanted to say something, and Cheryl heard herself ask, “What?”

“Nothing,” Toni insisted. “Look, I don’t think last weekend did any harm, right? All we did was get to know each other a little.”

“Yeah,” Cheryl agreed, although she wasn’t really sure that’s how she would describe that night on the stage.

“Let’s just… let’s just forget it,” Toni suggested, but Cheryl could sense that something was off with Toni as she suggested it. And Cheryl wasn’t sure she could just _forget_ it anyway. “We didn’t actually break anymore rules last weekend.”

“That’s true. Okay.” Cheryl would do her best to forget it, at least.

“Great. So, I should get back to my friends,” Toni said.

“I should do the same.”

Toni nodded, and then opened the bathroom stall, quickly going out to wash her hands. Cheryl closed the stall behind Toni, needing to use the bathroom before she could go back out there. Toni finished washing her hands, and then Cheryl heard her ask. “Tuesday?”

“Yeah.”

Then Toni left the bathroom and Cheryl finished cleaning herself up and going to the bathroom, so she flushed the toilet and left the stall to wash her hands before finally going out to join Veronica again.

As she started toward the dance floor, though, Veronica was suddenly intercepting her. “Hey! Uh, Josie just got here,” Veronica said, and Cheryl finally remembered what she’d heard the musical girls talking about.

“Oh.”

“How about we ditch this place and go to that club closer to the apartment?”

“Sounds good to me,” Cheryl agreed.

Veronica grinned, looping her arm with Cheryl’s and starting to guide her through the club. Cheryl didn’t see Toni around anywhere, and she didn’t know why she was looking for her. As soon as they exited the club, she took in a breath of fresh air—as fresh as it got in New York City, at least—and tried to clear her mind of Toni.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nooooo Toni why would you suggest that y'all just forget it?  
> I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to answer y'all's comments! I'm feeling really warn out this evening, and I was going to work on my new story, but I don't even know if I have the energy, so I might not. But I wanted to definitely update this for you guys.  
> I appreciate all of the comments and tweets and DMs though, please keep them coming <3 knowing that y'all are enjoying this story is seriously helping me get through all of the stress. Thank you all so much <3


	10. Cotton Sheets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl is definitely giving Toni some mixed messages.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hi, good evening and happy Saturday lovelies! A few things before we get to the chapter:  
> (1) In the original draft of this story, Chapter 9 is when shit hit the fan, and so when I was on like Chapter 11, I went back and rewrote Chapters 9, 10, and 11. This is like, one of the first times I've ever rewritten so much of a store lmao. I liked how this turned out a lot better.  
> (2) I love love love that you guys are loving almost daily updates, and I have absolutely no issues with anyone asking me when I'm updating, or saying they want the next update. I get it, I read fanfic too and I know how bad you want the next chapter. But I really don't like it when people sound rude in their comments about no update being posted that day... And this is part of why I usually do weekly updates, because then people always know when to expect it.   
> With that in mind, please just remember that I am not promising daily, every two days, or even every three days updates. I told you guys upfront that you will always get an update at least once a week, probably more often.  
> Maybe some of you guys don't understand why, even though I've finished this story, I don't post it all at once. It's for a mix of reasons... first of all, there's a lot more engagement with the story when people are all coming on to read it chapter by chapter, and I love that engagement. Second of all, I like to give people a chance to read the previous update before I post another. Thirdly, it does take me about half an hour to reread the chapter, write my notes, come up with a title and summary, etc, and sometimes I just don't have the energy. Lastly, I do go make edits sometimes in later parts of my stories while I'm posting them.  
> Anyway, I love love love how invested you all are, and seriously 99% of comments are amazing and never bother me! Just please consider whether you sound rude when mentioning that I haven't posted a new update, because trust me, authors do not enjoy reading rude comments.
> 
> Sorry that got longer than I expected! Please enjoy this chapter, everyone! I think you will ;) <3

“Where have you been?” Fangs asked Toni over the music, when she came back from the bathroom. “I didn’t see you at the bar?”

“Had to use the bathroom,” Toni answered, “uh, there was a line.”

“Hey, Toni!” Kevin called over the music, and Toni gave him a smile. She was hoping that the two of them would be enough to distract her from the conversation she’d just had with Cheryl. It was actually not a terrible conversation, considering how much communication between them had dwindled during the past week. But she couldn’t stop thinking about how she’d told Cheryl to just forget about the previous weekend, like it was nothing. Like it didn’t matter. To Toni, last weekend had been an indication that Cheryl was willing to open up, and that maybe the two of them had a chance at something more real, but apparently that was not the case.

Toni wasn’t used to this sort of thing. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had feelings for someone that had lasted more than a couple of weeks. Her high school relationships had been so plentiful because she tired of people. Not the sex, really, but the relationship itself. Her feelings would practically disappear and, not wanting to lead the other person on, she would be honest. She’d never been dumped, and she’d never been distraught over dumping someone. Relationship feelings just… weren’t something she’d had to deal with.

But during that conversation, hearing that Cheryl was upset at the amount of information they’d told each other about their pasts, and the kiss that they’d shared, that hurt Toni. She’d been tempted to admit her feelings right then and there—Cheryl deserved that, right? She deserved to know that Toni was starting to get in too deep.

Regardless, Toni had decided to stay selfish. Part of her still hoped that Cheryl would change her mind, that she would see that this was more than just sex for _both_ of them. Then again, another part of her was sure that given another few weeks, her feelings would go away like they had so many other times. Either way, it didn’t seem like the only option was to admit her feelings to Cheryl, so she would keep them to herself.

“Dude, are you okay?” Fangs asked her over the music.

“Fine,” Toni answered, getting herself out of her thoughts. “Let’s get some shots!”

* * *

Toni knew that she should wait for Cheryl to text her first, given their conversation the day before. She didn’t want to make the other girl uncomfortable or push her away. She _should_ act like they did before they had each other’s numbers, and just wait patiently until Tuesday. That meant that she shouldn’t be _waiting_ for Cheryl to text her either, but on Saturday, that’s what Toni found herself doing.

She’d gotten fairly drunk the night before, getting home late and crashing in her bed immediately. She was spending her Saturday doing homework, but she kept getting the urge to check her phone, and the longer she went without a text from Cheryl, the more she wanted to text her. But the truth was that there may be no texts until Tuesday, so Toni should really just give up on thinking about it.

In the evening, Peaches and Jughead came over to play Xbox with Sweet Pea, and Toni joined in for a while. It was a good distraction from her senseless obsessive thoughts about texting Cheryl.

“How was that theater party last night?” Peaches asked curiously, glancing at Toni. Toni had been the only one up to going when Fangs had texted last minute the night before.

“It was fine,” Toni answered, “there weren’t just theater majors there, and since it was at a club, it didn’t really feel like a party. Got super drunk, though.”

“Sounds like we really missed out,” Jughead said sarcastically.

“Just because you hate all outings and parties ever doesn’t mean everyone else does, Jug,” Peaches teased.

“Whatever.” Jughead rolled his eyes. They all went silent for a few minutes as they played the game, and then Jughead asked, “Hey, Sweets, how’s apartment hunting?”

“I’m touring another place on Monday,” Sweet Pea answered. “This one is affordable, so as long as it isn’t a piece of shit, hopefully it’ll be mine.”

Toni perked up a little at hearing that, but she tried not to seem _too_ happy about it. “I’ll miss having you around,” she said.

Sweet Pea flashed her a grin. “I could just stay…”

“Ha, no thanks.”

The group laughed, and refocused on the game for a little while. Eventually, Toni stepped out of the living room, not in the mood to keep playing games, and disappeared into her bedroom. She couldn’t get her mind off of Cheryl, so as she collapsed into her bed, she decided to send a safe text.

**Messaging: CB**

**Toni – Hey, how you doing after yesterday? You seemed kinda drunk haha.**

Surprisingly, she got a text back in a matter of seconds.

**CB – I was four shots in. Veronica and I left after and I took at least two more shots after that, I can’t really remember.**

**CB – But I’m okay. Hangover wore off after a few hours this morning.**

**Toni – Lol that’s good.**

**CB – How about you?**

**Toni – I got kinda drunk after we met up. Not wasted, but drunk enough haha.**

**CB – With midterms coming up, I think everyone deserves a break.**

**Toni – You’re so right.**

**Toni – Are you busy studying for midterms today?**

**CB – Sort of. Mostly I’ve been able to keep up with everything, so thankfully I don’t have to cram.**

**Toni – You studying right now?**

**CB – I was, until you texted me, yes.**

**Toni – Shit, sorry. Feel free to ignore me.**

**CB – It’s okay.**

**CB – I was going to stop soon anyway. It’s getting too late for me to concentrate.**

**CB – Why? What are you up to?**

**Toni – Not much. Sweet Pea invited some of our friends over and I hung out with them for a while but I’m not in the mood for gaming—which is what they’re doing right now.**

**CB – Is it weird suddenly basically having a roommate?**

**Toni – Yeah, but not that weird. I used to crash at Sweet Pea’s place all the time in high school.**

**CB – At least in this case, you get the bed.**

**Toni – You’re so right.**

There was a lull in responses from Cheryl, so Toni took in a breath and started typing again.

**Toni – Okay I’m gonna be honest, I texted you hoping I could think of somewhere we could meet up before we got to this point in the conversation. But I figured the Theater is kinda off-limits after last weekend, and I’m not sure we could get in anywhere else on campus at this time.**

**CB – Yeah, I can’t think of anywhere on campus that would really be convenient right now.**

**CB – I haven’t had dinner yet, either, so I should probably prioritize that anyway.**

**Toni – Okay. Yeah, we can just meet up Tuesday.**

Toni sighed, trying not to be disappointed.

**Toni – Sorry for interrupting your studying. Enjoy your dinner.**

She rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. Why hadn’t her feelings gone away yet? What was it about Cheryl Blossom that was holding her attention so well? _Too_ well, actually. Toni had never had her thoughts plagued by one person as much as they were today.

A couple of minutes later, though, when Toni was considering going into the living room and forcing herself to continue hanging out with her friends, her phone buzzed again.

**CB – Betty and Veronica just left for a club near my apartment.**

Toni lifted an eyebrow, unsure as to how this related to her.

**CB – They’re going to be gone for at least 2 hours. Veronica might even be gone all night. She likes to hook up with people on Saturdays. Betty will be back though.**

**Toni – Um, okay… And?**

**CB – And if you want to fuck me in my bed, you need to bring me something to eat.**

Toni’s eyebrows shot up. Cheryl was inviting her over—which was strictly against the first rule.

**Toni – Um, are you sure, Cheryl? We can just meet on Tuesday.**

**CB – As long as you’re gone before anyone gets back, it’s fine.**

**Toni – Do you like tacos?**

**CB – I can’t tell if that’s a serious question, or a sexual joke.**

**Toni – It’s obviously a serious question, because I already know the sexual answer ;)**

**CB – Yes, I like tacos.**

The next text that came through was an address, and Toni sucked in a breath. Cheryl was literally inviting her over.

Toni immediately hopped off of her bed and looked into her mirror, making sure she looked presentable. Then, she grabbed her wallet and her keys and pocketed them and her phone, and left her room.

“Hey, you rejoining us, Tiny?” Peaches asked.

“Actually, uh, I have to meet up last minute with my biology group,” Toni lied, hoping that it wasn’t obvious. “They just texted saying we need to meet asap, and one of them is providing dinner, so figured might as well.”

“Okay,” Sweet Pea said, “see you later.”

“Yeah, see you,” Toni replied, slipping out of the apartment and locking the door behind her before any more questions could be asked.

As she left her apartment building, she mapped the distance to Cheryl’s apartment, and it was a pretty decent walk. With the time limit of about two hours given to her, she knew walking wouldn’t be the best idea. She could maybe do the underground, but she wasn’t in the habit of navigating it, so she wasn’t sure that would be fast enough either.

So after she stopped by the taco place near her apartment—getting food for both her and Cheryl—she decided that she would just have to take a cab. Somehow, she didn’t even feel bad about having to do it.

She was at Cheryl’s apartment building in about half an hour. Entering the building, it became abundantly clear that this building was filled with rich people. It had a whole lobby with a desk-person and everything. Toni went over to said desk-person and told her the apartment number she was looking for, and they directed her to an elevator.

She took the elevator up to almost the top floor, and then navigated through a small hallway to the door with the correct label. It seemed to be one of the only doors on the whole floor. Taking in a deep breath, she knocked firmly on the door.

It swung open only a moment later, revealing Cheryl dressed just as fancy as if she’d been out all day—a red pleated skirt and a black blouse tucked into it. She sported her usual red lip, but her feet were bare against the wood floor of her apartment. “Hey,” Toni greeted, biting back a grin. “I come bearing food.”

“Good,” Cheryl said, stepping back to let Toni in. Toni walked into the apartment, which was basically a penthouse in Toni’s mind. There was a huge open concept kitchen, as well as a dining area and full living room. There were big windows on the far wall, with a magnificent view of some of New York City. There was a hallway disappearing to the right and to the left of the main area.

“Wow,” Toni murmured, glancing around the apartment. “This is awesome. Do you guys ever throw parties here? This place is huge.”

“We don’t,” Cheryl answered. “I learned my lesson in high school. You throw a party one time, and everyone expects you to host for the rest of time.”

Toni smirked. “That’s a good point.”

Cheryl closed and locked her apartment door, and then came up to Toni, taking the paper bag of food out of her hands and putting it on the counter. “You came here for something, didn’t you?” Cheryl whispered, taking a step closer to Toni so that her body was almost touching Toni’s.

“Didn’t you want to eat—”

“After.”

“Okay.”

Cheryl grabbed onto a tuft of Toni’s tank top and tugged her through the apartment to a door in one of the hallways. She opened it to reveal a bedroom that was of a typical modern style, but with as many red accents as possible, it seemed. The comforter of the black framed bed was red, as well as the curtains hanging over the windows and the rug on the floor.

“Not gonna lie, this is a pretty predictable aesthetic.”

“Red is my color, Topaz, or didn’t you know?”

“Trust me, I know,” Toni answered with a chuckle. Cheryl closed her bedroom door behind them and almost immediately grabbed Toni, pressing their lips together. Toni was surprised at how intense of a kiss it was already, but she didn’t hesitate to kiss Cheryl back and push her toward the bed. They stumbled a little and practically fell onto Cheryl’s comforter.

“Careful,” Cheryl snapped, and Toni chuckled. “What?”

“Nothing,” Toni muttered, bringing their lips together against for another firm kiss before she separated from Cheryl. “Undress.”

Cheryl bit down on her lower lip and followed Toni’s simple instruction, sitting up and untucking her blouse, pulling it straight up and over her head to reveal the black lingerie she wore under it.

“Did you wear that for me?” Toni whispered, quirking up an eyebrow.

“Maybe.” Cheryl then pulled her skirt off as well, revealing a matching pair of black, lacy panties. “Your turn, Topaz.”

Toni shrugged off her jacket and pulled her tank top off as well, following by wiggling out of her pants. Now also in her underwear and bra only, she leaned toward Cheryl to bring their lips together again. Cheryl scooted backwards on the bed, though, making Toni follow her until they were up at the head of the bed, and Cheryl laid down with her head on her pillow.

“What are you waiting for?” she asked afterward, smirking up at Toni, who practically dove down at those plump red lips.

It was honestly so amazing to be in a bed with Cheryl again. First of all—it was just way comfier for both of them, but also it meant that they were in an apartment, with no people around, and they could be _loud_. Toni was so excited to make Cheryl make lots of noise again.

Even as she began to trail her lips down Cheryl’s body, leaving a trail of red lipstick residue on her pale skin, Cheryl’s mouth let out little moans of want and pleasure, and Toni reveled in it. Her hands played with Cheryl’s nipples through Cheryl’s bralette as she sucked gently on the skin near Cheryl’s naval. “You better not be leaving a mark, Toni,” Cheryl murmured.

“Trust me, I know better,” Toni insisted, before biting down slightly on the soft skin, getting a moan out of Cheryl. She finally got down to Cheryl’s panties, and she very purposefully slid them off of Cheryl—all the way off—before throwing them off of the bed. “You’re so fucking hot.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Cheryl whispered.

“You’re so fucking cocky,” Toni husked, her hands gripping Cheryl’s thighs, “but I can’t even care because it’s so hot.”

Cheryl made an impatient noise. “Fuck me, Toni.”

“You know I hate it when you tell me what to do,” Toni snapped, pressing her short nails slightly into Cheryl’s skin and making the girl moan. “I like it better when you beg.”

“Toni…”

Toni looked down at Cheryl’s center, blowing out some cool air against it and causing the other girl to shiver. “What?”

“Please fuck me.”

“What was that?” Toni asked, looking up at the redhead and quirking up an eyebrow.

“ _Please_ fuck me, Toni,” Cheryl repeated, sounding more desperate this time. Toni smirked, lowering her face to Cheryl’s folds and tasting her with her tongue, adding her fingers only a second later. Cheryl let out a loud moan of pleasure, and her hips began to move steadily, trying to get more friction with Toni’s fingers. In a matter of minutes, Cheryl was moving even quicker, moans escaping her lips more and more often, and Toni knew she was getting close. “Fuck, Toni…”

“What’s that, Cheryl?” Toni whispered.

“Fuck, I’m gonna come,” Cheryl said, “please don’t stop—please—”

“Please don’t… what was that?” Toni asked, slowing her movements abruptly. Cheryl let out a slight cry of frustration.

“Please don’t stop, Toni, please let me come, please,” Cheryl pleaded, “please Toni, please I need you to make me come!”

“Well in that case…” Within about thirty seconds, Cheryl was crying out in pleasure, and Toni practically came from hearing the sounds she made. Her orgasm lasted many long moments, and then Cheryl finally relaxed into the bed. “God, I wish I had enough time to do that to you over and over, it’s so fucking hot.”

“At least tonight I have time to return the favor,” Cheryl murmured, before suddenly sitting up and pushing Toni down onto her back. Toni gasped a little, and Cheryl straddled her, pressing her into the pillows. They were still on top of the comforter, not on the sheets, but even Cheryl’s comforter was immensely softer than hers.

Cheryl pressed her lips to Toni’s neck, and Toni’s head lolled back. She felt Cheryl sucking at the soft skin there, and Toni couldn’t help the moan that escaped her throat. “God, Cheryl,” she mumbled, as Cheryl began to drag her lips and tongue down to the tops of Toni’s breasts. Suddenly she was removing Toni’s bra, and her fingers found Toni’s nipples, playing with them as she brought her lips to Toni’s.

Toni was absolutely lost in the girl, her hips bucking a little against where Cheryl was straddling her, desperate for her touch. She couldn’t think about anything else—not where she was or how many rules were broken and how many weren’t, all she could grasp was how badly she needed Cheryl to fuck her.

“Cheryl,” she moaned.

“What?” Cheryl whispered, her mouth suddenly right next to Toni’s ear.

“I need you to touch me,” Toni gasped out.

“Impatient,” Cheryl whispered, biting onto the lobe of Toni’s ear. Toni’s eyes practically rolled back into her head as Cheryl adjusted her body so that she was laying over her, not straddling. Her right hand moved down from Toni’s boob to her underwear. Her fingers padded against the panties, teasing Toni slightly. Toni moaned, her hips jerking slightly to attempt to get any amount of friction.

Finally, just when Toni thought she was going to have to be the one begging now, Cheryl slipped her fingers into her underwear and abruptly entered them into Toni’s opening, causing the pink haired girl to gasp loudly. “God, Cheryl,” she whimpered.

“Isn’t this what you wanted, Topaz?” Cheryl asked lowly, lips still by her ear.

“God yes,” Toni confirmed, rocking against Cheryl’s fingers. “Fuck, it feels so good.”

Toni lost all track of time she moaned and was brought slowly but surely closer to her climax. Finally, she hit her peak, letting out a cry of pleasure and clinging to Cheryl above her for a moment as she rode out her orgasm, before falling against the comforter.

“Holy shit,” Toni murmured.

Cheryl smirked. “I’m going to grab the food.” She suddenly climbed off of Toni and the bed, and Toni watched as she went to a door on the side of the room, opening it to reveal a large closet. She pulled a robe off of a hanger and pulled it on over her body, which was otherwise clothed only by her lingerie, which Toni had only left on because of how hot she looked in it. “Do you want wine?”

Toni was surprised by the question, but she supposed she shouldn’t be, considering how she used to offer wine to Cheryl as well. “Please.”

“Red or white?”

“Red,” Toni answered, “so I can see what the hype is with the expensive stuff.”

She thought she saw Cheryl smile, but she couldn’t tell as the girl turned away and started out of the bedroom, leaving the door ajar behind her. Toni glanced around at the big bedroom and let out a breath. She was really here, in Cheryl’s apartment. Another rule broken—and she hadn’t had to push for it at all? Did this mean that Cheryl was starting to realize that this was more than just sex… for _both_ of them?

She shivered suddenly, cold air from the AC hitting her bare skin. She sat up and pulled Cheryl’s comforter out from under her, sliding her legs into the bed and feeling the soft, cotton sheets.

“Damn,” she murmured. She leaned against Cheryl’s headboard, only her legs covered, until Cheryl walked back into the room a minute later, the paper takeout bag tucked under her arm and a glass of wine in each hand.

“Getting comfy?” Cheryl inquired, and Toni couldn’t read her tone of voice.

“I was testing the not polyester sheets,” Toni answered, lifting an eyebrow.

“And?”

“They’re soft.” This time, Toni definitely caught Cheryl’s smile, as she closed her bedroom door with her foot and brought one of the glasses to Toni, who took it gratefully. “Thanks.”

“Of course.”

Cheryl climbed onto the bed, taking a sip of her wine and then setting the glass on one of the two nightstands, before opening the to go bag. “They’re probably cold by now.” Cheryl didn’t seem bothered as she pulled out four wrapped tacos, passing two to Toni and keeping two for herself.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as they ate, and despite the lack of interaction, Toni was all too aware of her heart pounding in her chest. This was the first time that she and Cheryl had ever shared any sort of meal together, and they were at _Cheryl’s_ apartment. She really couldn’t wrap her head around it.

When both of them were finishing up their tacos, and their wine glasses were a little emptier, she finally decided to ask. “So, what gives? Why are we here?”

“It was the most convenient option,” Cheryl answered quietly. “And we’ve said it before, but rules four and five are the most important. It’s not like anyone is here besides us.”

“Yeah,” Toni agreed.

“You don’t have to read into everything so much.”

_But what if I want to? What if I want there to be more to it?_ Toni asked in her head, but of course she would never ask that out loud. “Okay.”

Cheryl glanced up at her. “Maybe I enjoy your company, okay?”

“Really? I had no idea,” Toni teased. Cheryl rolled her eyes.

“I mean, more than just for the sex. It’s not a big deal,” Cheryl insisted, although she was definitely avoiding Toni’s gaze. “We’re kind of friends, right?”

“You do know some pretty personal stuff about me,” Toni teased. Cheryl narrowed her eyes at her, and Toni laughed as she clarified, “I mean about my parents.”

Cheryl’s face relaxed. “Yeah. And you know about my brother.”

“So yeah, I guess that does make us _kind-of-friends_.” And that’s what Toni had wanted, right? She wanted to be friends with Cheryl so that this wasn’t just sex. She’d gotten what she wanted.

So why did she still feel like she was missing something? She had want she wanted, and now she wanted more. She wanted _that_ kiss again, the one from a week ago. She wanted to feel those lips against hers, soft and gentle and with no thought of sex. She had no idea why she wanted it so badly, it had never been anything she’d really had or wanted before, but here she was, craving it again.

“This was really good,” Cheryl said, as she balled up her trash from the tacos and put it back into the paper bag.

“Yeah, it’s from this taco place right by my apartment,” Toni told her, “they’re my favorite place to get tacos. Last semester I went there like, every other day. My bank account very quickly vetoed that idea.”

Cheryl chuckled a little at that. “So… you have a scholarship to Gale?”

“Yep,” Toni answered. “My friend Peaches says I’m a complete nerd.”

“No way, complete nerds only major in like, math or computer science,” Cheryl insisted, “you’re maybe just a regular nerd.”

Toni rolled her eyes. “Gee, thanks.”

“Do you like being a film major here?”

“Yeah,” Toni answered, “it’s great. But I can’t wait until I’m in my upper level courses. All of my film classes right now are open to non-majors, so they’re full of people like Peaches who don’t give a shit about the content and are only there for an easy A.”

“That’s how my intro classes were too,” Cheryl agreed. “It’s all the engineering and business majors who are just trying to have some kind of fun before they slave away for the next three years.”

Toni chuckled. “Exactly.” She took a sip of her wine. “But I love film. I wanna be a director someday.”

“Yeah?” Cheryl asked, quirking up an eyebrow. “What do you want to direct?”

“Movies,” Toni answered. “I’m sort of obsessed with movies. I don’t like finding new TV shows to watch so I only watch a few, but movies? I’ll watch pretty much anything.”

“Even those stupid teen rom-coms like To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before?” Cheryl asked with a smirk, referencing their conversation from the previous weekend.

“Yes, but I’ve limited myself to one Noah Scented Mayo movie a year,” Toni answered jokingly, leaning back against Cheryl’s headboard. “What about you, do you like your major here?”

Cheryl nodded. “Yeah, Gale is a great school for Performing Arts. There’s lots of opportunity for performances and a lot of cool classes to take.”

“So when does the musical start showing?”

“At the end of the first week of April,” Cheryl answered, lifting a suspicious eyebrow. “Why?”

Toni shrugged. “Maybe I’ll see it.”

“You literally said to me last weekend that you’ve never seen a musical,” Cheryl stated flatly.

“I just wasn’t exposed to musicals when I was younger,” Toni insisted. “I couldn’t even go to the movies more than once every few months, let alone go out and see a musical. Anyway, Urinetown sounded interesting when I looked it up. What, you don’t want me to see it?”

Cheryl shrugged. “I mean, do whatever you want.”

Toni laughed, shaking her head. “You’re so ridiculous.”

“I am not, you are,” Cheryl insisted, sniffing a little and taking a sip of her wine to hide the obvious smile that Toni didn’t miss at all.

“What are we, nine?” Toni teased. She took back the rest of her wine and then set the glass on the nightstand. “Thanks for the wine. It’s really good, although for the record, I can’t tell much of a difference between it and the wine I buy.”

“Some people just don’t have the knack for tasting wine,” Cheryl said. She finished her glass as well, and then hummed thoughtfully. “It’s probably starting to get late.”

“Yeah, I should probably head out,” Toni agreed, although she definitely didn’t want to, “before your roommates get back.” Toni climbed out of Cheryl’s bed. “Can I use your bathroom?” Cheryl nodded, gesturing to the third door in the room. She gave Cheryl a small smile as she padded naked over to the bathroom.

The room was definitely bigger than Toni’s bathroom, with a decent sized tub beneath the showerhead, and actual counter space around the sink. Toni shook her head in slight disbelief, before going to the bathroom and washing her hands quickly. Back in Cheryl’s bedroom, she started tugging on her clothes. “Thanks again for bringing food,” Cheryl thanked Toni.

“Anytime,” Toni insisted. The words that came out of her mouth next actually hurt her to say, but for some reason, they came out anyway, “What are kind-of-friends—with benefits—for?” Cheryl rolled her eyes, and Toni pulled on her last item of clothing, and then she let out a breath. “So, I guess I’ll head out.”

Cheryl nodded. “See you Tuesday?”

“That’s what we said yesterday,” Toni teased.

“Yeah, yeah,” Cheryl said, shaking her head. “Come on, you should go. Veronica and Betty could be back any time.”

“Okay, okay,” Toni said, opening up Cheryl bedroom door and heading out toward the front door. “See you, Cheryl.”

“Bye, Toni.”

Toni left the apartment and headed for the elevator. When she reached the street outside the building and walked to the edge of the sidewalk to call a cab, she noticed two girls walking her direction, and one of them was the girl Toni recognized as the friend that Cheryl was sometimes with in the Fine Arts Building—Veronica, if she remembered correctly. She assumed the blonde with her was Betty, and let out a breath as they walked past her and headed into the building. That really had been a close call, which made it even more crazy to her that Cheryl had invited her over.

And even though Cheryl told her not to read into it, she couldn’t help it, and unless these stupid feelings of hers went away sometime soon, she had a feeling that this would only get worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, a little fluff before we get back to the angst? I hope you all didn't mind the little break haha. Hard to read Cheryl though, huh?
> 
> Thank you for all of the sweet comments I got on the previous chapter! I love that you guys are guessing what will happen and wanting to know more and getting so excited! That is what I love about posting fanfiction - everyone getting to enjoy it along with me. I appreciate you all so so so much! I think I should be able to post chapter 11 tomorrow!
> 
> Also, for those of you who remember me mentioning about me and my girlfriend trying to sign a lease... we finally did it! Yay! Some good news. :)
> 
> Thank you all for being here to read this update, I appreciate it <3 I hope you all are having a lovely weekend! Stay safe and healthy friends <3


	11. Study Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl and Toni's conversations are straying what it they probably should be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good evening friends! Time for an update! Enjoy! xx

When Toni left, Cheryl felt the anxiety she’d been suppressing suddenly come up again. Toni had texted her earlier, wanting to meet up but not knowing where they could, and Cheryl had not been planning on inviting her over. It wasn’t until Veronica and Betty said they were going to walk down to the club nearby that she had made the decision to text Toni and invite her over.

She couldn’t even explain what had come over her. The want for sex, sure, but she wasn’t stupid enough to think that her feelings had nothing to do with it. She didn’t want to give into them, but it was like they had taken control of her and her actions. It had been worth it, she hadn’t had to make her own dinner and she’d gotten to be fucked in her own bed for the first time in a long time. But Cheryl of all people knew what feelings could lead to, the pain and the hurt.

Letting out a shaky breath, Cheryl made her way into her bathroom, looking at the exposed skin on her neck and noticing a few traces of lipstick. She quickly washed them off and then went to the bathroom before going to slip on some comfy pajamas. As soon as she was changed, she heard the apartment door open, and she sucked in a breath. Toni had barely left five minutes ago—that had been a really close call. Cheryl didn’t even know what she would’ve done if Toni had still been here when Veronica and Betty got home.

She opened her door and walked out into the living room as her friends came in, talking happily. “Hey, Cher!” Betty greeted.

“Cheryl,” Veronica said with a groan, “there was this super sexy guy that I really wanted to go home with, but then he turned out to be completely sexist and crude and Betty had to swoop in and save me.”

“It’s true,” Betty confirmed with a solemn nod.

“Aw, I’m sorry Ronnie. Honestly, you shouldn’t be in charge of picking guys,” Cheryl told her best friend, “you tend to pick guys like that.”

“Yeah, Reggie was definitely very crude,” Betty agreed.

“Okay but Reggie was _not_ sexist,” Veronica insisted. “He was an asshole, sure, but not that bad. And Archie wasn’t horrible either.”

“No, but he was pretty stupid and not good at reading you at all,” Cheryl insisted.

Veronica sighed. “Why are men so difficult?”

“Right there with you, V,” Betty agreed, and the two of them sat down on the couch. Cheryl came over and joined them.

“I don’t envy you straights,” Cheryl said with a slight sniff.

“No offense,” Veronica said with a chuckle, “but I wouldn’t say that your dating history has been all that great either.”

“Definitely not,” Cheryl agreed with her, “but at least I don’t have to deal with men.”

“Okay, Petra was way worse than any dude I’ve ever dated,” Veronica insisted, and Cheryl’s slight smile suddenly dropped away. “Shit—sorry, I—fuck, sorry Cheryl. I didn’t meant to bring her up.”

“It’s fine,” Cheryl answered, feeling far away from her own self as she stood up. “I think I’m going to go to bed.”

“Wait—”

Cheryl didn’t let Veronica finish, hurrying into her room and taking in a deep breath. That’s what had been different about this night—she hadn’t thought about Josie or anything after Toni had fucked her. No, Cheryl hadn’t even spent a moment thinking about anything other than fucking Toni right back. But now, Veronica had to go and bring _her_ up. Her being Petra, Cheryl’s first—and only—long term girlfriend, from high school. The person who Cheryl had first admitted having feelings for, and the first person to break her.

Her bedroom door opened behind her, and Cheryl let her eyes fall closed. “I’m fine, you can go.”

“No, we’re talking about this,” Veronica said softly, closing the door behind her. “Shall we sit?” Cheryl opened her eyes and saw Veronica going over to her bed and climbing under the covers—Cheryl blinked, mentally thanking Toni for having gotten under the covers earlier, otherwise Veronica would’ve sat directly on the spot where they’d fucked each other.

Cheryl went over and sat next to Veronica, and let out a breath. “Seriously. I’m fine.”

“It’s been a long time since we talked about her,” Veronica said softly. “I’m sorry for bringing her up like that.”

“She doesn’t deserve to be talked about.”

“No, but I know you still hurt over it. I know that’s why everything with Josie was so bad.”

“Yeah.”

“Anyway… you know that everything that happened with her and Josie… those things don’t mean that everything is over for you in the relationship department. You do know that, right?”

Cheryl shrugged.

“Come on, Cher. You are so lovable.”

“Ha.”

Veronica chuckled. “Seriously, when people get to know you, they really love you, Cher. Someone—if not many people—are going to love you as much as you deserve to be loved someday.”

Cheryl smiled a little. “Thanks, Ronnie.”

“See, you’re such a softie on the inside,” Veronica said with a chuckle, cuddling up next to Cheryl. “It smells like tacos in here.” Cheryl’s heart skipped a beat, honestly thankful that Veronica noticed the taco smell and not the sex smell.

“I ordered tacos,” Cheryl lied. “Just finished them about fifteen minutes ago.”

“You waited so long to eat,” Veronica tutted. “You need to stop studying so late and make sure to feed yourself.”

Cheryl smiled. “Right.”

“You know I’m here for you, right Cheryl?”

“I do.”

“You can tell me anything.”

Cheryl suppressed a sigh, leaning her head onto Veronica’s. “I know, Ronnie.”

“Good.” They sat like that for a few more minutes, before Veronica let out a long sigh. “I guess I should go shower and get ready for bed.”

“Yeah, I should sleep too,” Cheryl agreed.

Veronica got up from Cheryl’s bed and stretched her arms above her head. “Goodnight, Cher. Ooh—let’s make pancakes tomorrow.”

Cheryl couldn’t help but smile. “Sure.”

“Cool. Night!”

“Goodnight, Ronnie.”

When Veronica left her room, closing the door behind her, Cheryl let out a breath and leaned into her headboard, in the same spot that Toni had been sitting just twenty minutes earlier. She closed her eyes, and immediately, Toni’s face came to her mind, that beautiful smile and soft skin and easy-going demeanor. Cheryl’s heart ached, and she bit down on the inside of her lip. She wanted to believe Veronica, that someone would love her and not hurt her, but she’d let herself believe that with Josie, and she’d been proven wrong. How could she let herself believe it now?

* * *

**Messaging: TT**

**TT – My professor in this class says “and um” every five seconds.**

**CB – I hate that. I had a professor last semester who said “and so on” after pretty much every sentence.**

**TT – wtf, that doesn’t even make sense.**

It was Monday, and Cheryl was sitting in the Blackbox. It was twenty minutes until her call time for rehearsal, and she’d just finished up her voice lessons. She’d decided to text Toni because she was bored, although she’d used the excuse of telling her the study room number that she’d booked for tomorrow. Now, they were having a very normal conversation, and despite not usually enjoying texting, Cheryl was having fun talking to her.

**Cheryl – I know right. That’s honestly why I hate lectures, though. Professors are so boring.**

**TT – I usually don’t mind lectures.**

**Cheryl – Right, because you’re a nerd.**

**TT – Shut up, I’m not a nerd, I’m a fucking badass.**

**TT – You know I punched multiple guys out in high school.**

**Cheryl – You can be a nerd who’s punched people out, Topaz.**

**TT – Shut up.**

**TT – I’m changing the topic before this can go on any longer. What classes did you have today?**

**Cheryl – I had advanced music theory this morning, and then American history. Then I had my weekly voice lessons that ended an hour ago.**

**TT – Is voice lessons just like, one-on-one choir?**

**Cheryl – I mean yes, but choir inherently means NOT one person, so also no.**

**TT – Whatever, I don’t know this music stuff.**

**TT – So, did you do all this music and performance stuff in high school too?**

**Cheryl – Yeah, I was in the musical every year in high school. And I was head cheerleader. I did choir back in middle school, but I was too busy with advanced classes and cheerleading and stuff in high school.**

**TT – Advanced classes? And you’re calling me a nerd?!**

**Cheryl – You didn’t take advanced classes?**

**TT – My school was in a like, super poor area. We barely even had a consistent football team, let alone advanced classes.**

**Cheryl – Oh, I see.**

**TT – Yeah, well shit happens, me and my friends all turned out pretty great so it’s fine.**

**Cheryl – College is what matters anyway.**

**TT – You’re right, especially for film. Most high schools only offer like theater or maybe one film class if any. So I’m not really behind or anything.**

**TT – So, I know you’re not a freshman, because you were absolutely shocked to find out that I am. So what year are you?**

**Cheryl – Sophomore.**

**TT – Oh come on, that’s one year different, you were freaking out over nothing.**

**Cheryl – I was just surprised, okay?**

**TT – Whatever you say lol.**

**TT – How does it feel to be almost halfway done?**

**Cheryl – Not very exciting. Seems like college basically always feels like it’s taking forever until your last semester. At least, that’s what I’ve heard.**

**TT – I simultaneously can’t wait to be done, and also want it to take some time. You know, so I can have the whole partying and uncaring phase of my life and then move on to a real job and shit.**

**Cheryl – I get it.**

**TT – It’s almost your call time now, right?**

**Cheryl – Yeah.**

**TT – That’s good. My class is getting out, so I’m about to start my trek home.**

**Cheryl – Okay. I guess I should put my phone away and go backstage for when Professor Stone is ready for me.**

**TT – Break a leg!**

**TT – That’s a thing that theater and dancer people say right?**

**Cheryl – Yes, Toni, it is.**

**TT – Then yeah, do that! Except don’t. That would make sex a bit harder.**

**Cheryl – Priorities.**

**TT – Yeah! See you tomorrow, Blossom.**

Cheryl bit down on her lower lip. Talking to Toni was becoming addicting. Toni was just so carefree and funny, and somehow she knew how to make Cheryl smile. And the more Cheryl learned about her, the more she wanted to know more. Especially considering that some of the real things she’d learned about Toni had been sad things from her past, she got a feeling of excitement every time she got to learn something less intense, just little things that made up who Toni was.

It was definitely becoming harder to keep the feelings she felt for Toni completely locked away, but Cheryl new that as long as she didn’t act on them, it would probably be fine. At least, that’s what she told herself.

She put her phone away in her backpack and started backstage. Someone else was still rehearsing, so she leaned against the wall backstage to wait, and suddenly someone was coming up to her—Sage. “Hey, Cheryl,” Sage greeted, “have a good weekend?”

“Yeah,” Cheryl answered, “aside from all of the studying I did for midterms.”

“Midterms suck ass,” Sage agreed. “What’s your call time?”

“Now, for an hour.”

“Mine just ended,” Sage said. “Hey, do you think you’d wanna get a drink after?”

Cheryl quirked up an eyebrow. “It’s Monday. I have an exam tomorrow morning, so… probably not.”

“Okay, well how about Thursday?” Sage asked. “Or do you have classes on Friday?”

Cheryl bit on the inside of her cheek, trying to figure out a way to turn Sage down without sounding being rude. She didn’t want everyone in the musical to hate her before they even performed together. “Look, Sage,” she said, “I don’t really do any of this stuff.”

“I’m not suggesting whatever you’re thinking,” Sage insisted, “I just think as the two lesbians in this cast, we should probably get to know each other?”

“Why, so everyone will think we’re dating like they always do when they see two lesbians together?” Cheryl asked, frowning and lifting an eyebrow.

Sage laughed at that. “You’re funny. Come on, I know you said you don’t really do the hookup thing, but you’re single right? At least let me take you out? It can be as serious or casual as you want.”

It was a strange proposal—usually people had something in specific that they wanted from Cheryl, so it was weird to hear someone say so straight forward that they didn’t care what it was. But it wasn’t necessarily a _good_ weird, and regardless, and even though she would never say yes, thinking about it at all instantly plagued her with _guilt_. Not worry or anxiety, just guilt.

She didn’t owe Toni anything—they weren’t dating, and their fifth rule was very much still in place. But even if Cheryl would consider saying yes to Sage—which she wouldn’t, because it went strictly against her rules to herself, the ones she bent for Toni _only_ —she couldn’t. It would feel _wrong_ to go out with anyone or hook up with anyone other than Toni.

“Sage, when I said I was single, I meant it, but I’m single by choice,” she reiterated. “I’m not looking to date or hook up with anyone right now. Anyway, I don’t want to make anything weird in the cast anyway.”

Sage nodded. “Alright, fair enough. I guess props to you for being clear instead of just saying yes for my sake. You’re cool, Blossom.”

Cheryl lifted an eyebrow. “Thanks.”

“Have a good rehearsal, see you around.”

Cheryl nodded, and Sage headed back to the Blackbox. Just a few seconds later, Professor Stone was calling her name, and Cheryl headed onto stage.

* * *

Toni pushed Cheryl against the wall in the dark study room, her fingers slid through her belt loops. “You’re so fucking hot when you wear those crop tops,” Toni murmured, and Cheryl bit down her bottom lip. It was Tuesday, and they’d just met up in the study room. She had not been expecting Toni to be so aggressive right off of the bat, but she wasn’t upset by it.

“I know,” Cheryl said back, and Toni pressed her body against Cheryl’s.

“I wish there was somewhere more comfortable on campus than these rooms.”

“I know,” Cheryl repeated, wrapping her arms around Toni and sliding her hands into pink and brown hair. “But at least we have this place, right?”

“Mmhmm,” Toni hummed in agreement, sliding her hand into Cheryl’s pants as her other hand unbuttoned them. She slid her fingers into Cheryl, who moaned quietly as her eyes practically rolled back into her head. Toni pressed even closer to her, grabbing Cheryl’s thigh and pulling her leg up and around her. Cheryl was barely even supporting herself, Toni and the wall were doing all of the work.

It was quick and dirty after that, Cheryl getting lost in the feeling of Toni fucking her and coming in a matter of minutes. After coming down for a few seconds, she started to move her hand toward Toni’s center, but the girl gently pushed it away.

“You got lucky on Saturday,” she said, “because Sunday morning started my time of the month.”

“Damn,” Cheryl muttered. “This is why I love my IUD.”

Toni furrowed her eyebrows. “Why do you have an IUD?”

“If you saw me on my period, Topaz, you would know,” Cheryl answered, lifting an eyebrow. “I mean, PMS was bad enough, but cramps that could kill are more than enough to put me in a rage.”

“Okay, fair enough,” Toni said with a chuckle. “Sorry, guess my mind went to the _birth control_ part and all that.” Cheryl shrugged. “So, you have somewhere to be today?”

“Not really,” Cheryl admitted, against her better judgment. “You?”

“Nope,” Toni answered, going over to the light switch. Cheryl buttoned up her pants, and then the lights came on. “How was rehearsal yesterday?”

“Fine,” Cheryl answered, “although that girl from the club on Friday—Sage—hit on me again.”

“Can’t really blame her,” Toni said, looking Cheryl up and down as she leaned against the table. “Did that upset you?”

“No,” Cheryl answered, “I mean, not really. I just told her the truth.”

Toni smirked. “What’s the truth, Blossom?”

Cheryl rolled her eyes with a scoff and answered, “That I’m not looking to date or hook up with anyone right now.”

“You know what I’m curious about,” Toni said, sitting on the table with her palms pressed against the surface on either side of her legs. “You said you were used to one night stands when we first hooked up, and I didn’t pressure you into anything. So what made you want to keep this up?”

Cheryl could tell that Toni was asking this question at some angle, but she didn’t have enough time to consider what that angle was. She decided to answer simply, hoping that Toni wouldn’t read into it too much. “Last semester, I went through a brief time period where I had many one night stands. After that, I decided that they weren’t worth it, and that I wasn’t going to do them anymore.”

“But then you were?” Toni asked. “With me.”

“Yeah,” Cheryl answered quietly, “because… you just…” Cheryl couldn’t think of the words to say, so she just gestured at Toni as though that should explain it all. Toni smirked.

“Because I’m hot?”

“Anyway,” Cheryl continued in a huff, “as you are well aware, the reason I continued to keep this up was because we made the rules, and as long as we stuck to those, particularly the last two, obviously, everything would be fine.”

“So, why are you so against feelings and shit?” Toni wondered, kicking her feet back and forth. “I mean, if you are. Given rule five, I just assumed.”

Cheryl crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s not important.”

“Feelings are fucking weird,” Toni said, looking down at her lap. “In high school, I dated something like… ten people?” Cheryl lifted an eyebrow—that was definitely a lot of people to have dated in four years. “Hooked up with more than that.”

“So that’s why you’re so good in bed,” Cheryl joked with a smirk, maybe trying a little to keep this conversation from getting too deep. Toni’s lips turned up a little, but it seemed like she was intent on talking more.

“Anytime I had feelings for people,” Toni continued, “they would go away. Usually it would take a few weeks. So I would get excited about feeling some type of way, we would start dating… the sex would be great, things would be going great, and then… just gone. I don’t know what it was about those relationships, or those people… or if it’s just me, and maybe I’m fucked up.”

Cheryl frowned at that, and Toni finally met her gaze. “I’m sure you aren’t.” Toni shrugged, and Cheryl wondered if she was going to say anything else. When she didn’t, she let out a breath and sat down in one of the chairs as well. “I have the opposite problem.”

“What’s that mean?” Toni asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“I feel too much,” Cheryl answered, “and I get hurt because of it. My mother always taught me that love is… fickle. But I, young and naïve, wanted to believe otherwise. When I fell in love the first time—the only time, mind you—it was… magical. Until it wasn’t. And that’s when I learned that my mother was right. She’s never right about anything, and god do I wish that she was wrong, but she’s not. So… maybe you’re lucky that you can’t feel anything like that for long. Feelings only end with someone getting hurt.”

“You really believe that?” Toni wondered.

“I’ve never met anyone who’s been in love and not gotten hurt because of it,” Cheryl answered. “Have you?”

“No,” Toni agreed, “but… I always felt like… or, maybe I just always wanted to believe that there was someone out there that I could fall in love with, and who would fall in love with me. I would never expect something like that to be easy, trust me. I have literally zero role models for this sort of thing. My mother left my father after I was born, my uncle and grandfather haven’t been married in decades. Most all of my friends’ parents are divorced, except for Peaches’, but they fight all the goddamn time…”

“See?” Cheryl said sadly. “It only brings hurt.”

Toni shook her head. “But I don’t want to believe that’s how it always is.”

“You can believe whatever you want,” Cheryl told her, “but the more you tell yourself it’s impossible, the less you’ll get hurt.”

“Really?” Toni asked, and suddenly she sounded frustrated. “Do you hurt less telling yourself it’s impossible?”

Cheryl narrowed her eyes. “Yes, Toni. I do.”

“I have a hard time believing that,” Toni muttered.

“Excuse me?”

Toni let out a breath. “Nothing. Sorry. Misdirected anger, I guess.”

“Who are you angry at?” Cheryl asked, not believing Toni saying the anger was misdirected. Cheryl was almost positive that Toni was mad at her, but Cheryl didn’t want to admit to herself what that would have to mean.

Toni looked down at her lap again for a second before shaking her head. “No one, nothing. Sorry. I should go.” Toni got up from the chair and grabbed her backpack. “See you Thursday, Cheryl.”

“Bye,” Cheryl replied quietly, watching Toni disappear out of the study room. She felt guilt in the pit of her stomach, for making Toni angry, even though she’d really done nothing. Deep down, she knew what was wrong… their conversation really said it all. But she couldn’t let herself go there, she just couldn’t.

She was truly at war with herself, she realized. One minute texting Toni and smiling and getting fucked up against a wall by the most beautiful girl she’d ever seen… the next minute telling herself that she could do this without her feelings getting any stronger.

What if Toni was right? What if feelings didn’t always have to end in hurt?

But how could she let herself consider that? How could she risk getting hurt like that again, and bringing all of that pain back?

Cheryl didn’t realize that there were tears in her eyes until one of them escaped, dropping onto her cheek. She let out a little gasp, immediately wiping it away and standing. She grabbed her bag and hurried out of the room. She needed a distraction, before her thoughts became plagued with Petra and Josie and everything with Toni. She needed to distract herself before it all got to be too much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your sweet comments on the last chapter, as well as the tweets, I appreciate you all so much.  
> Feel free to stop reading my note here, and I will see you all in the next update <3 xx
> 
> TW: Death  
> For those of you who watched Glee and are feeling the hurt from Naya's accident, I am feeling it too. It is so tragic, and I just wanted to say to stay strong, and remember all of the good things, remember the difference she made. We all need to cherish our lives and everything we are lucky to have, even in this crazy time. As bad as it hurts, we are going to be okay <3


	12. Nowhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toni is on a mission to figure out whether love is real and possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good evening friends! Sorry I didn't get a chance to reply to y'all's comments, I read all of them and I loved all of them and I really wanted to reply, but I also wanted to get this update up as early as possible today before I get too sleepy lmao, because I worked 8-5, then showered, then made dinner... and I know I'm gonna mentally crash soon haha.  
> But I do appreciate all of the comments, so keep them coming and I will make sure to reply before the next chapter <3
> 
> Enjoy!xx

Toni had been stupid to start that conversation with Cheryl about feelings and love. She’d had a pretty good idea about what kind of things Cheryl would say, and yeah, maybe she’d admitted her own history just to hear about Cheryl’s, but she hadn’t expected to get so frustrated at hearing the answer. Of course she’d been able to figure out that Cheryl had been hurt before, but that didn’t mean it hurt to hear that Cheryl really didn’t believe that feelings could bring anything good enough to make potential hurt worth it.

She walked home at a faster pace than normal, trying to clear her head, and when she made it to her apartment, she was out of breath. “Did you run here?” Sweet Pea asked in amusement, from where he was seated at one of the barstools, concern also evident in his voice. “You good?”

“Walked fast,” Toni answered. “Just needed to clear my head.”

“What’s going on?” he asked. “I’m always here as a sounding board, you know.”

Toni hesitated, and then she decided that she may as well accept the offer. She set her backpack on the kitchen counter and went to sit on the barstool next to him. “Yeah, okay. Do you think love is fickle?”

“Okay, first of all, I don’t know what fickle means,” Sweet Pea answered seriously.

Toni rolled her eyes, although she wasn’t really surprised. “Do you think love that lasts is real? Or does it always end in hurt?”

Sweet Pea frowned. “Why?”

“You said you’d be a sounding board,” Toni reminded him, “just answer the question.”

He let out a breath. “I mean, yeah I guess I believe that two people can fall in love and end up together forever, without things ending. But I’m not stupid enough to think that no one gets hurt the whole time. Relationships need work, you know?”

“So how come my parents, your parents… all of our friends parents… how come none of them worked out?” Toni demanded. “If real, lasting love is out there, how come we’ve never seen it?”

“Because, Toni,” Sweet Pea answered, “we’re from the shitty side of town where everyone’s lives suck and being in love is a luxury. My parents didn’t love each other when they got married. They got married because my mom was pregnant with me, and they didn’t want me to be born into an divided family. Of course, that didn’t last long, but honestly, I think it’s a good thing they got divorced while I was young. Look at Peaches’ parents, they’re still married because what? They still have one kid in high school. I bet as soon as Storm moves out at eighteen, their parents get divorced.”

“You’re not providing me with any evidence that agrees with you saying that lasting love is real.”

“I’m just saying, it’s obvious that my parents, Peaches’ parents, your parents… they never had love in the beginning. Fangs, I mean he didn’t even know his dad, so I’m sure we can assume the same thing.”

“What about Jughead?” Toni countered. “His parents were in love. But they ended things.”

“Sometimes people end things because they aren’t willing to fight for the relationship,” Sweet Pea said with a shrug. “That’s what I said, relationships need work. People who think love is the key to a relationship are wrong. You can love someone a shit ton, but if you don’t go and ask them out, or try to make them happy, or whatever, you won’t get anywhere. Right?”

Toni nodded slowly. “So, you think if two people love each other, they have to put in the effort, and then it can last forever?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Sweet Pea answered. “You’re not recording this, right? If Peaches or Fangs ever heard me say this, they’d never let me hear the end of it.” A small smile came to Toni’s lips.

“No, I’m not. You do sound like such a sap saying that, though.”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t you believe that, too? I know you’ve never really had feelings for anyone for very long, but I was pretty sure we’ve talked about how you wish you could. You know, when you’re all sad and lonely and willing to talk about your feelings—or lack thereof.”

“Oh shut up,” Toni said, rolling her eyes. “But yeah, no, I do want to believe that. Just… if someone didn’t want to believe it, how would you convince them that it is real?”

Sweet Pea lifted an eyebrow. “I mean, this completely depends on the context. If it was a friend? I would tell them like I just told you and hope they get the idea. If this is a more than friend, then I guess you’d have to show them?” Toni bit onto the inside of her lip thoughtfully. “What’s up with you, Toni?”

“Nothing,” she insisted.

Sweet Pea suddenly blinked and said, “Oh, wait. I’ve got another point.” Toni lifted an eyebrow. “Your grandfather, Thomas!”

“What about him?”

“He was married to your grandma for their whole lives,” Sweet Pea reminded her. “I know you never knew her… but he was with her until the day she died, right?”

Toni thought for a moment, realizing that he was right. “Yeah…”

“See, there’s your role model,” Sweet Pea said teasingly. “Maybe you should call ol’ Thomas and ask him all your burning questions about love?”

“That’s… actually a great idea, Sweets,” Toni answered with a smile, standing up. “I’m going to go do that.”

“Wait, really?” Sweet Pea said with a laugh. Toni nodded, grabbing her backpack and heading for her bedroom. “Hey, if I go get Chinese takeout do you want me to bring you some?”

“Ooh, yes please!”

“Alright, I’m gonna do that.”

“Thanks, Sweets!”

Toni shut herself into her room and grabbed her phone, quickly finding her grandpa’s home phone number and clicking the call button. It rang a couple of times, and then he finally picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hey, grandpa,” Toni greeted sweetly, “how are you?”

“Toni! I’m okay. Your uncle came around today and helped me clean this place up some. My back really isn’t letting me do much lately,” he told her, and Toni frowned.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m glad he’s helping you, though.”

“You called him lately?”

“No,” Toni answered, sitting on her bed and laying back into the pillows, “you know that the two of us fought a lot up to me moving away.”

“Yeah,” Thomas answered, “but he loves you, you know?”

Toni chuckled. “Hey, actually, that’s what I was calling to talk about.”

“Your uncle?”

“No, _love_ ,” Toni answered with a chuckle. “I’m, um… doing research on a film and stuff for one of my classes. I’m supposed to talk about love and whether or not it lasts and shit.”

“Sounds like an interesting project.”

“Yeah,” Toni agreed, “so… I realized that I don’t really know many people from my childhood that were really in a happy relationship. And… I only got to meet grandma when I was a baby, so I don’t remember her… but you two were together like, your whole lives, right?”

“We were,” Thomas agreed. “Your grandmother was a beautiful and kind woman, Toni. I’m sorry I never told you much about her. I don’t always like to talk about it.”

“You loved her,” Toni said softly, “right?”

“I did,” Thomas confirmed, “well, I do. Love like that doesn’t just go away because someone died. You know that—with your father.”

“Yeah,” Toni replied quietly. “So… do you think love like that, like what you and grandma had, do you think that’s still a thing now? I feel like no one stays together that long anymore.”

Thomas laughed through the phone. “Come now, Toni, what is this really about?”

Toni sighed. Of course her grandpa could read right through her. Her uncle had been the one who took her in and let her live with him after her dad died, but her grandpa had always been the one who really cared about her. He had been her best friend as a kid. She should really make sure to call him more, but college felt so distant from home already that it was easy to forget.

“I know this isn’t about some film project,” he added.

“It’s not,” Toni admitted. “There’s… there’s this girl that I… I think I like.”

“You think?” he teased.

“Well, I do. But you know that I’ve never really had feelings like that for someone for very long.”

“Is this girl different?”

Toni sighed. “I don’t know. I mean, I’ve been feeling this way for weeks, probably a little over a month now? But… she doesn’t think that love and relationships ever go anywhere… she thinks that they all end in pain and hurt. And we… we have a sort of _relationship_ , and I won’t go into the details, but we… we keep feelings strictly out of it.”

Thomas let out a sigh. “That is a tricky situation. It sounds like you’re the one at risk of getting hurt, not her.”

“I know that,” Toni said sadly, “but… I keep getting the feeling that she feels the same way… but she just won’t let herself acknowledge or act on it. And I don’t know how to convince her to just give it a chance.”

“Well, Toni,” Thomas responded, with a tone of finality that he usually had when concluding a conversation with his advice, “it sounds to me like the options are to end things with her, to protect yourself, or to tell this girl how you feel and risk getting hurt, but with the chance that things go better than you’d expect.”

“What about a third option, where I just keep pretending like my feelings aren’t there?” Toni asked, laughing sadly.

“My girl,” he replied sadly, “you know that is no good option.”

“I know.”

“You have to decide if she’s worth it,” he told her. “And decide which kind of hurt is worth it. Ending it now, and feeling that pain for a long time—wondering what if? Or trying to work things out with her, and maybe getting hurt along the way, and maybe you end up hurting, but at least you tried.”

“So what you’re saying is that if I really like her, and want it to go somewhere, I need to put in the work?” Toni asked.

“Exactly.”

Toni chuckled. “Goddamn, Sweet Pea.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing,” Toni answered, smiling a little. “Thanks for the advice, grandpa, I appreciate it.”

“Anytime, Toni,” he told her fondly. “Remember you can call me whenever, okay?”

“Okay,” she said with a small smile. “I love you, grandpa.”

“I love you too, my girl. I hope things go well with that girl.”

Toni smiled. “I’ll keep you posted.”

“Good.”

The line went dead, and Toni let out a breath. Of course her grandpa’s advice would somehow line up exactly with Sweet Pea’s.

But now Toni was left with a decision, and neither of them were easy, but one of them definitely had the _potential_ to be more rewarding. She just needed to figure out the best way to go through with it, and then maybe she could have a chance at convincing Cheryl.

* * *

Toni spent the rest of Tuesday night trying to come up with a plan of some sorts, except for the half hour she spent eating her Chinese takeout with Sweet Pea. By the end of the night, she had a sort of idea for what she wanted to do, and she passed out a little after midnight, her thoughts swamped with the next few days and what she was going to do.

* * *

Thursday rolled around, and Toni was not in the mood for a quick fuck or even a long fuck—no, she was fully stuck in her feelings. She and Cheryl had texted a little more on Wednesday, just chatting about their days, but the more they did it, the more stuck Toni felt. She’d known this was going to happen, and now that she’d thought about it, and talked about it with somebody, she was there. She couldn’t imagine another conversation where Cheryl told her about rule five and all that shit. She was about to put her heart on her sleeve, and she wasn’t ready. Never before had she had to deal with this before, but she needed to do it now.

Peaches noticed that she was off on Thursday, but she chalked it up to midterms—she had a test in her earliest class and in history of film. Thankfully, her biology class didn’t have a typical midterm, so she didn’t have to worry about a third test for that week. She got to spend the lecture thinking about Cheryl instead.

She sat near the back of the class that day, and ten minutes before class usually got out, she silently slipped out of the lecture hall and started to the Fine Arts Building. She needed to intercept Cheryl on the way to the library, because they weren’t going to a study room today. She knew that Cheryl had booked one already, but she didn’t care. Cheryl’s classroom was on the second floor of the building—Toni remembered which one. She parked herself leaning against the wall a few feet away from the door to the classroom, and busied herself on her phone as she waited for the class to let out.

When people started to leave the classroom, she took in a breath and kept her eyes trained on her phone.

“Come on, we totally deserve to get drunk after all the tests this week, right?” a voice that Toni vaguely recognized asked, and Toni glanced up to see Cheryl and Veronica walking out of the room.

“Sure,” Cheryl agreed, “yeah, we can do that.” Toni glanced at the redhead, their eyes meeting for a moment, and then she pushed off from the wall and started walking through the building. “Um, I gotta go to the Blackbox, Ronnie, Margaret texted me and said I left something there on Monday.”

“Oh okay,” Veronica said, “see you tonight?”

“Mmhmm.”

After that, Toni could hear the clicking of Cheryl’s heels following her. Ironically, they were actually headed toward the Blackbox, except actually Toni was going for the theater. She’d already checked the schedule—she’d managed to find it online—and it wasn’t booked for another hour.

Toni turned into the staircase to head down to the first floor, and as soon as Cheryl was also in the staircase, the girl asked, “What the hell, Toni? What happened to the library?”

“I didn’t feel like the library,” Toni answered, “come on.”

She heard Cheryl huff in frustration, but the girl continued to follow her as she made her way to the theater. When she pushed open the doors to house, she was happy to see that it was in fact empty. “What are we doing, Toni?” Cheryl asked in a hushed voice as they both slipped inside the dimly lit theater.

“I need to talk to you,” Toni insisted, “and I didn’t want to do it in the study room.” The truth was, she was worried that things would get heated, and the study rooms were far from soundproof. The theater was a bit better for that, but she also thought that maybe being in here would remind Cheryl of that kiss that she supposedly wished didn’t happen, but that Toni still couldn’t stop thinking about.

“What’s going on?” Cheryl asked, arms crossed over her chest.

“Remember what we talked about on Tuesday?” Toni asked, lifting an eyebrow as she turned to face Cheryl, walking backwards down one of the aisles that split the seats in the house.

“About how love only ends in pain?” Cheryl deadpanned. “Yeah, I remember.”

“Good. You know, I did a lot of thinking after that,” Toni explained, “because I actually thought that maybe you were right. I couldn’t think of anyone who was in love with the same person for their whole life—but then, I realized that my grandpa was. He was married to my grandma for almost fifty years, and loved her until the day she died. He still loves her, he loves her so much that it’s hard for him to even talk about her.”

Cheryl let out a breath, taking a few steps to follow after Toni. “Okay? So? One example isn’t proof, Toni.”

“No,” Toni agreed, “but what I realized is that you have to be willing to work for relationships, Cheryl. My grandparents grew up in a horrible place, in extreme poverty and with every hurdle in the world thrown at them. Most people in that same situation can’t always put in the work to maintain a good, long relationship, because for a lot of us there, it was literally life and death every day.”

“It wasn’t for my family,” Cheryl snapped, “but my parents hardly love each other. I’m not sure they ever did.”

“Some people stay together for their kids, or their business, or appearances, and yeah, that’s not love and that’s a shitty way to spend a relationship. But if the feelings are really there, why would you not _try_?” Toni demanded. “If you don’t try, you’ll always end up getting hurt.”

“Not if you just don’t form feelings,” Cheryl answered shortly.

Toni let out an exasperated breath. “Would you stop that, Cheryl? You are not without feelings. You can act like that all you want, but I was with you on that stage two weeks ago! I saw the pain in your eyes, I felt that kiss. And I know you did, too.”

Cheryl bit down on her lower lip. “Toni, we can’t do this.”

“Cheryl,” Toni said back, reaching forward and grabbing Cheryl’s hand, pulling her toward the stage, “why are you so scared?”

“You can’t understand, Toni,” Cheryl snapped, half-heartedly pulling her hand away. “You said yourself you don’t get feelings for people for more than couple of weeks. You don’t know what it’s like to open up to someone and then be crushed.”

Toni took in a deep breath, realizing that she was going to just have to be honest now. She was in too deep. “Cheryl… you are the first person that has ever captivated my attention _and_ my feelings for so long. And… at first, I was totally on board with you and these rules, but I… I can’t keep denying my feelings for you. And I know you feel them too, Cheryl, you can’t tell me you don’t.” Toni saw Cheryl’s eyes filling with tears, and it hurt her heart.

“I can’t, Toni,” Cheryl whispered. “I can’t… I can’t risk that pain. You don’t understand. If I let myself get hurt like that again, I’ll break. I almost broke last time.”

“Last time?” Toni prompted. Cheryl sniffed, looking away from Toni, who took a step closer to her. “Talk to me, Cheryl.”

“No, I can’t,” Cheryl insisted, her voice barely audible, “I’m sorry, Toni. But I… we can’t.”

“Cheryl…”

Cheryl shook her head, turning on her heel and hurrying out of the theater. Toni felt her heart pounding inside of her as she realized that she’d ruined it.

She barely remembered her walk home, or how she ended up laying in her bed and staring up at her ceiling. She felt numb. She felt tears in her eyes, but they didn’t roll down her cheeks—she didn’t cry. She bore her heart to Cheryl, admitted her feelings and tried to get her to open up, and she’d failed.

And it hurt like all fucking hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a hard chapter for me to write for some reason, so I hope that it was enjoyable at least. Well... I mean I know it's angsty so that lowers the enjoyable level haha.  
> What do you guys think is gonna happen?  
> I know a lot of you guys are making some guesses about Sage... I'll admit that when I added Sage to the story I didn't really know what I was going to do with her... but I won't spoil anything haha. You'll just have to wait and see what happens.  
> Thank you all so much for being here to read this update! I appreciate you all so much! <3 I will hopefully see you guys tomorrow night with chapter 13 ;D xx


	13. The Bed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl is trying not to think about Toni, but when she sees her again by surprise, a flurry of emotions takes over and some things happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good evening friends! Firstly, I’m having to update from my phone, so I apologize if the formatting of the chapter is weird (EDIT: I reposted it from my computer so it's beautiful again lmao). Secondly, thank you all so much for all of the amazing comments on yesterday’s chapter! Seriously, I loved reading and replying all of them!
> 
> Lastly, this chapter was one of the most fun for me to write lmao... but that’s not to say there’s no hurt... ;D
> 
> Enjoy!

Cheryl sat in the back of the cab with tears staining her cheeks. She had to leave the theater as soon as she realized that tears were going to start being shed—she couldn’t cry in front of Toni. She wished she wouldn’t cry at all, she hated that she was at all. It had all been a big mistake. She’d broken her rules for Toni, and broken the subsequent rules. Not all of them, but enough of them that Toni had developed real feelings for her. And Cheryl had developed feelings for Toni. If they had kept it to just sex, things would have been so much easier, but no. They had that night in the theater two weeks ago, and ever since then, nothing had been the same.

As the cabbie pulled up in front of Cheryl’s apartment and she handed him some cash, he gave her a sad smile and said, “You okay, Miss?”

“Fine,” she insisted, and he took the money with a simple nod. Cheryl stepped out of the car and immediately headed up to her apartment. To her dismay, as she opened the door she immediately saw Betty and Veronica both hanging out in the living room, and she quickly wiped at her cheeks, hoping that her tears weren’t obvious.

“Cher!” Veronica greeted brightly. “Whoa, wait, I know that face. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Cheryl said plainly, “just tired.”

She started for her bedroom, but Veronica was up and following her within a second. “Hey, talk to me, Cher.”

_“Talk to me, Cheryl.”_ That’s what Toni had said before Cheryl had run out of the theater. It had been an invitation to open up, to admit the hardships that Cheryl had gone through. But it had also been an invitation to so much more, and Cheryl couldn’t go there. She just couldn’t.

Cheryl opened her bedroom door and dropped her backpack on her desk, feeling tears well up in her eyes again. “Cheryl, what’s going on?”

“I’m just upset, okay?” Cheryl snapped at her best friend.

“Well, what about?” Veronica demanded, closing Cheryl’s bedroom behind her as she entered into the room as well. “Did something happen? You went to the Blackbox, right? Did you see Josie or something?”

“No, but…” Cheryl sniffed as another tear fell from her eye, and she sat on the edge of her bed. “I’m… I’m feeling everything again.”

“About Josie? And… and Petra?” Veronica asked softly, coming to sit next to Cheryl, who nodded. “You know… maybe it’s good to feel it all. Feel it all, let it hurt, and then maybe it’ll be easier to stop feeling it.”

“But I can’t stand it,” Cheryl whispered. “I shouldn’t let myself be so weak.”

“It’s not weak to feel pain, Cheryl,” Veronica insisted. “It’s life. Come on, you know that. You’ve been through hell, and that’s just how life goes.”

“Exactly,” Cheryl agreed. “I can’t feel like this every time something shitty happens.”

“You won’t, if you just let yourself feel it right away,” Veronica insisted. “Think about JJ.” Cheryl sniffed, meeting her friends’ eyes. “You grieved him so hard after he died. I remember how much that hurt you. You leaned on me, and we got you through it. Does the pain of his death haunt you every day now?”

“Not really,” Cheryl whispered, “just sometimes.”

“So why should it be any different when you’re thinking about the pain Petra put you through, that Josie added to? Things with Josie would’ve probably been less painful if you’d allowed yourself to feel that pain from Petra. She’s the root of all of this anyway, right?”

Cheryl shrugged. “I just can’t do it, Veronica. I can’t let myself _feel_ everything like she wants me to.”

“Who?” Veronica asked. “Who wants you to feel?” Cheryl realized her slip of words, and she choked out a sob. “Josie? Who are you talking about?”

“Nobody,” Cheryl whispered, shaking her head as she regained some control over her voice. “Nobody, I didn’t mean to say that.”

Veronica sighed. “You know I can’t help you unless you open up to me, Cher.” Another sob wracked Cheryl’s body, and she leaned into Veronica, who immediately wrapped her arms around her. “I’ve got you, girl. Don’t worry.”

They sat like that for a while, Cheryl crying and sobbing without explanation, and Veronica just holding her, rubbing her arm thoughtfully. When her crying eventually calmed down, Cheryl finally pulled herself away from Veronica slowly. “I’m sorry,” Cheryl apologized. “I don’t know what happened. Just all of the sudden, I was overwhelmed with all of these feelings…”

“It’s okay to feel things,” Veronica assured her, “and you don’t need to apologize for needing to let it out, okay?”

“Okay,” Cheryl murmured.

“How about we order pizza? B and I were saying some cheap pepperoni pizza sounds so good after midterms this week.”

“Sure,” Cheryl agreed with a nod. “Yeah. Just… I’m going to take a shower.”

“Okay, we’ll order and it’ll be here when you’re ready,” Veronica said softly. “You’re gonna be okay, you know?”

“Thank you, Ronnie.”

“Anytime, girl.”

* * *

The next day, Friday, Cheryl was not in the mood to _feel_ her feelings. Crying and being held by Veronica the day before had actually been pretty helpful, and she woke up on Friday feeling like she would maybe be okay, and if not, she would force herself to be. She woke up early and had a small breakfast before deciding to go for a jog. It’d been a while since she exercised just to exercise, and it helped clear her head a little bit. She then powered through the rest of the day, including musical rehearsal, with almost no problems. She saw Josie at rehearsal, and that stirred some feelings, but she successfully forced them down and continued on with her.

And thankfully, she and her roommates had already made plans to go out that night. They were going to the bar closest to their apartment, mostly because of the convenience, but it was also the place of a party hosted by some people that Veronica knew, so they knew it would be a good night.

Some of the musical girls invited Cheryl out to the same club from the previous week, but she turned them down in favor of the current plan to go with Veronica and Betty. So after rehearsal she bought herself a quick dinner and then headed home to hang out with her friends until they went out. When it was getting late enough, they all changed in their clubbing outfits and, from their apartment, the three of them made the short walk to the club.

It was already kind of busy when they got there, and they started their night with a round of shots. “Ladies,” Veronica said, “I am _so_ getting laid tonight.”

“I hope you just remember that some of us will be trying to sleep in the apartment tonight,” Cheryl reminded her friend with a small smirk.

“I’ll do my best,” Veronica said, waving her off. “Let’s go dance. We won’t find me a hookup unless we try them out, hm?”

“Disgusting,” Cheryl mumbled, but she let her friends drag her out onto the dance floor anyway. They danced for about half an hour before the three of them stumbled back to the bar to order another round of shots and some beer as a chaser. Cheryl was more than happy to get wasted tonight, so she chugged the beer after the shot and only took a few sips of water in an attempt to balance it out. Veronica replaced the few sips of water with another shot.

“Which of them should I try and get with, hm?” Veronica asked, looking out into the crowd. “You guys told me I’m bad at picking men, so why don’t you pick for me?”

“I’m definitely not the person to do that,” Cheryl said with a snicker.

“Or you’re the best person to do that,” Betty offered, “since you’d be speaking from like, the most objective viewpoint.”

“Except I would say just don’t get with any of them.”

Veronica rolled her eyes. “I’m thinking dark hair… muscles…”

“So, exactly your type?” Betty deadpanned.

Veronica started to say something else, but Cheryl was immediately distracted by the pink haired girl suddenly walking toward them—but not really, just in their general direction. She was practically being dragged by her friend, who was saying, “Come on, Tiny, Sweets is already here and I told you, you need to get out of your fucking apartment. We are getting drunk.”

“I hate you,” Toni snapped back at him.

“Let’s go dance,” Cheryl said to her friends quickly, and neither of them argued. They stood up and started for the dance floor, and Cheryl hoped that she could avoid crossing Toni’s path, but somehow their shoulders bumped right into each other’s, and Toni looked up at her with surprised eyes. Cheryl, though, felt panic and anger rising as she snapped, “Watch it.”

“Excuse me?” Toni asked back, but then Cheryl was disappearing into the crowd of people dancing with Veronica and Betty. Her heart was pounding—why did she feel so angry all of the sudden? She hadn’t expected to see Toni, but upon seeing her, she thought she would feel more sadness, but instead, it was all anger.

She tried to forget it as she and her friends started dancing, and Betty started pointing out guys to Veronica. Cheryl tried to look around and be helpful too, but she kept catching glimpse of Toni’s pink hair, and not only did she look exceptionally hot, as usual, but she had found some girl that she was dancing up next to.

Every time Cheryl saw her, she was pressing her body up against her, and the other girl was touching her waist. Cheryl felt frustration building up inside her. She wasn’t stupid. She knew she was feeling jealous, not to mention angry, and the fact that she was jealous over some random dancing with Toni just made her even more angry.

After a while, she finally lost sight of Toni, but was still feeling frustrated. Shaking her head at herself, she told her friends, “I’m going to the bathroom.”

“Okay, text us if you need anything,” Betty told her, and Cheryl nodded in agreement before heading off toward the bathroom.

She genuinely planned to go into the bathroom and take a breather, but there was a line outside the single restroom, and Toni was standing at the end of the line. The pink haired girl’s gaze landed on her immediately. “I hope you’re here to apologize for ramming into me,” Toni said coldly.

“You should be demanding an apology from that girl who was practically molesting you on the dance floor.”

Toni narrowed her eyes. “Did you really come over here just to say that to me?”

“I’m here for the restroom,” Cheryl answered, “but seeing as there’s a line, I’ll just be on my way.”

“What’s your problem?” Toni demanded, keeping Cheryl from turning away. “Why are you pissed all of the sudden?” Cheryl glanced around them, at all the people they didn’t know. She let out a huff, and went to stand at the end of the bathroom line, next to Toni, so she could talk at a quieter volume.

“Why are _you_ pissed all of the sudden?” Cheryl asked back.

“Because you fucking left me in the theater yesterday,” Toni hissed out, “not to mention, you’re such a fucking hypocrite.”

“I’m not,” Cheryl snapped. “And for the record, I’m angry because you went rogue yesterday. We _agreed_ on those rules, and you just went and broke the most important one!”

“Honestly, Cheryl, this is what I’m fucking talking about,” Toni snapped. “You keep telling yourself that I’m the fucking bad guy when the real truth is that you’re hurting every goddamn day because you won’t let yourself feel anything good.”

“That’s not my life,” Cheryl snapped, “you don’t know my life, Toni!”

“Yeah, you’ve made damn sure of that!” Toni started to turn away, but Cheryl felt herself reaching out and grabbing Toni’s wrist, turning her back toward her. “What the fuck, Cheryl?”

Their faces were close, both of their breathing heavy, and their eyes stared at each other for a moment. “This isn’t all on me,” Cheryl hissed.

“Bullshit,” Toni snapped, but her voice was quiet.

Cheryl didn’t know what overcame her all of the sudden, but she _needed_ Toni. She didn’t care what had happened the day before, she didn’t even want to think about it, she just needed Toni. “Meet me outside.” She released Toni’s wrist and then sauntered through the club to the door. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She didn’t know what she would say or do if Toni followed her. The alcohol and the anger she felt was welling up inside of her, but with it was _desire_.

When she stepped out into the cool air of the evening, she took in a deep breath and paced back and forth by the entrance, wondering if Toni would follow her. It was less than a minute later, though, that the door to the club opened up, and Toni walked out of it. “What the fuck, Cheryl?” she demanded.

But Cheryl didn’t answer her—no, she felt her emotion and desire take control of her body and she suddenly made a beeline for Toni, slamming their lips together and pressing Toni into the wall of the building. Toni was clearly shocked, but after a moment, she was kissing Cheryl back. Their tongues acted aggressively, each of them trying to take control of the kiss, and Cheryl felt her center throbbing.

When she had to pull away for air, Toni was staring at her in shock. “What—”

“Do you want this or not?” Cheryl demanded. “Tell me you don’t want to go back to my apartment and fuck me, and I’ll leave you alone.”

Toni’s breathing was heavy, and her chocolate brown eyes were staring very obviously at Cheryl’s lips. “I want this,” she whispered, “but not _just_ this, Blossom.”

“Can we start with just this?” Cheryl whispered. “And talk about the rest later?”

“How do I know you’re going to actually talk about it?” Toni asked back. “You’ve been shrugging this off for weeks, and you just left me there yesterday.”

“We’ll talk,” Cheryl said, although she felt her stomach twisting inside of her as she tried to imagine what that talk would entail. But she was desperate, and there was alcohol in her system, and she just needed Toni too bad to back out.

“Okay,” Toni said quietly, “let’s go.”

Cheryl just nodded, and started to pull Toni away from the club and toward her apartment. They walked there wordlessly, entering into the building and heading up to one of the top floors to Cheryl’s apartment.

“Where’re Veronica and Betty?”

“The club,” Cheryl answered, but she didn’t want to talk yet. The only way she could think to deal with both her anger and her desire was to do this—to fuck Toni and get fucked by Toni. She couldn’t think about anything else right now. She dragged Toni through her apartment to her room, not even bothering to close the door behind her as she connected her lips to Toni’s and roughly directed them to the bed.

Toni let out a deep moan as she fell backwards into the bed, Cheryl pushing her down into the pillows. “I thought you wanted me to fuck you?” Toni asked lowly.

“I decided that I want to fuck you first,” Cheryl snapped.

Toni sat up suddenly, grabbing Cheryl’s thighs. “Well, maybe we shouldn’t do what you decide all the time.”

“Excuse me?” Cheryl growled, but then Toni flipped Cheryl so that she was pressed onto her back on the bed. She felt anger bubbling in her chest, but her center was throbbing and she could feel how wet she was.

“You’ve always decided everything,” Toni answered, “and maybe you need to learn to let someone else take control, Blossom.”

“And what will that achieve?” Cheryl demanded. Toni didn’t answer, reaching underneath Cheryl to unzip the tight dress she was wearing tonight. “Answer me, Topaz.”

“I don’t have to answer you,” Toni growled. “Maybe it’s time you start answering to me.”

Cheryl didn’t know what that meant, but it made her squirm as Toni pulled off the dress, tossing it away and straddling Cheryl. Toni was oozing dominance, and Cheryl could barely hold herself together. “Toni…”

“Shut up,” Toni growled, as she ducked her head down and attached her lips to Cheryl’s skin. Cheryl felt her eyes roll up into her head as she moaned, and she wondered for a moment if Toni was going to leave her a hickey. She was about to remind her not to, but then Toni’s lips started to move down to Cheryl’s strapless bra. “You’re going to do exactly what I tell you tonight, Cheryl.”

Cheryl whimpered, squirming underneath Toni.

“Am I understood?” Toni snapped.

“Yes,” Cheryl gasped out.

“Good.” Toni’s fingers dragged down Cheryl’s body, her short nails digging into her skin. Cheryl gasped at the feeling, her hips jerking with need. Toni was sucking on the skin on Cheryl’s stomach, her fingers digging into the skin of her ass, which was not very covered by the lacy thong she’d chosen to wear so it wouldn’t be visible through her tight dress, and Cheryl reached her hands down to tangle into Toni’s hair. Toni stopped suddenly, looking up at Cheryl. “No touching me.”

“But—”

“Exactly as I say, remember?” Toni demanded.

Cheryl let out a whine, but she forced her hands to come up by her head, burying them underneath her pillow. Toni’s lips were venturing closer and closer to her center. When she reached it, Toni’s hands gripped the back of Cheryl’s thong and pulled down on it, practically ripping the panties off of her. Cheryl was practically panting, desperate for Toni to fuck her. “Toni,” she whispered, “I need you to fuck me.”

“I don’t care,” Toni hissed, “you’re going to be good and wait for me to get around to it.”

Cheryl whimpered, becoming absolutely undone as she listened to Toni’s words. She couldn’t think about where this extreme dominance was coming from right now, all she could think about was how hot it was.

Toni began to tease Cheryl’s center with her fingers, sliding through her folds and lightly teasing around her clit. Cheryl’s breathing was so fast and she bit down on her lower lip, wondering how she already felt so close. Toni’s tongue finally met her soaked center, and Cheryl let out a loud moan. “Fuck, Toni!” She was so close, as soon as Toni plunged her fingers inside of her she was so close to coming. “God, I’m so close—” Toni suddenly removed her hand, and pulled her head up from Cheryl’s center, and Cheryl let out a desperate whimper. “What—”

“You can wait,” Toni insisted. But Cheryl couldn’t, all she could think about was how badly she needed to come.

“Please, Toni,” she gasped out.

“You’re so fucking needy,” Toni growled. “You need me so bad, even though you won’t admit it. You _need_ me.”

“I need you to make me come,” Cheryl pleaded.

“Yeah, _me_ ,” Toni snapped.

Cheryl moaned. “Fuck me, Toni.”

“I told you, Cheryl,” Toni whispered, “you’re doing what _I_ tell you tonight.” Cheryl whimpered as she felt teeth sink into the skin of her thigh, and she felt new wetness appear between her legs. Toni knew _exactly_ how to get underneath her skin, how to get her right to this point, and how to tease her.

Toni brought her tongue back to Cheryl’s clit, and she thought she was finally going to get to come, but then Toni brought her lips back to her thighs, and Cheryl whined. “Please, Toni, I need you to fuck me,” she pleaded, then remembering what Toni had said a second ago. “I need _you_ , Toni. I need you, okay?”

“I know,” Toni replied, but she didn’t sound as angry now, and she finally slid her fingers inside of Cheryl, moving them quickly and with purpose, her tongue reconnecting with Cheryl’s clit. Everything became a blur of pleasure as Cheryl cried out, hitting her orgasm all at once. It was perhaps the hardest she had ever come, and she felt like she blacked out for a second as she rode through it, and then she fell uselessly into her bed.

Yeah, that was easily the best orgasm she’d ever had. Her breathing still calming down, she felt _those_ thoughts starting to plague her mind, and she squeezed her eyes closed—she didn’t need this now. Not now. She pressed her palms against her skull, trying to slow her breathing.

“Cheryl?” Toni asked, worried. “Did I hurt you?”

“No,” Cheryl answered, “I just—I can’t—”

“Look at me,” Toni instructed, and Cheryl forced her eyes open, turning her face to look at the pink haired girl, who was now laying out next to her on the bed. “Where do you go?”

Cheryl sniffed, looking up at her ceiling and trying to control her breathing. “The reason I’ve had so many one night stands was because I thought… the more I had sex, the less I would have these thoughts after. But it didn’t help. Nothing helps.”

“What thoughts?” Toni asked.

Cheryl felt anxiety in her stomach, and wished she hadn’t chugged that beer earlier on top of the shots. She took in a shaky breath, looking at Toni. “You’re wearing too many clothes.”

“You need to talk to me, Cheryl.”

“I know, but I’m practically naked, and you’re fully dressed.”

Toni rolled her eyes, and began to take off of her clothes. Cheryl rid herself off her bra, and then they crawled underneath Cheryl’s comforter. “Now?” Toni asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“It’s hard for me to talk about,” Cheryl whispered.

“You only have to tell me as much as you are comfortable with,” Toni promised her. “I want you to talk to me, Cheryl, but I can’t make you do it.” Toni’s hand came up to Cheryl’s face, pushing some of her hair out of her face gently. Cheryl let her eyes fall closed. She couldn’t remember the last time someone touched her as softly as Toni did—like that night in the theater, with Toni’s hand resting over hers gently. That kiss…

“Josie,” she said softly. “Remember Josie?” Toni nodded. “I liked her a lot, for a while, and last semester I told her, and then she kissed me, and then she fucked me. And then the next morning, I woke up to her gathering her stuff up to leave, and I was confused. She told me that it couldn’t happen again, because she didn’t have feelings like that for me.”

Toni frowned deeply. “Cheryl—”

“No, wait, please let me keep talking,” Cheryl pleaded, and Toni nodded. “Anyone would be angry about that, admitting your feelings to someone and then being used for a quick fuck?” She sucked in a deep breath. “But it was worse for me, because of Petra.”

“Petra?” Toni asked softly, and Cheryl didn’t know how she sounded so calm and strong, but she found herself reaching for Toni’s hand, hoping some of that calm and strength would flow into her.

“She was my first girlfriend, in high school,” Cheryl answered. “I loved her. I thought she loved me. I came out of the closet to be with her. She was the first person I let see all of me—physically and emotionally. I wasn’t raised in a loving household, Toni, my parents emotionally abused me all through my childhood—they wanted my brother, not me. When he died, it didn’t get any better—I felt like the only reason they even kept me around was because I was all they had left of him. Anyway… Petra was the first person I thought I could completely open up to.”

“But?”

“But she used me,” Cheryl answered. “Maybe she loved me at some point, but after a while, she was only with me for the sex. She was mad that I hadn’t ever been comfortable enough to… to go down on her. Then the first time I tried it, she practically laughed at me—I still don’t know why, if it was because it was bad or because I was nervous—but it made me feel like shit. I went from feeling amazing around her to feeling so insecure, but I still loved her, and I wanted to get that back. But she got more and more distant, and eventually, I caught her at school making out with some other girl.”

“Oh,” Toni breathed out, and Cheryl squeezed her hand firmly as she fought back tears. “Cheryl, I’m so sorry.”

“She made me feel so stupid, Toni,” Cheryl whispered. “I tried to talk to her, I told her I loved her and that I wanted to make it work. I tried so hard, but she basically just tossed me aside. I loved her, and I _put in the work_ ,” Cheryl reemphasized, “that’s what you said it takes to have a love that lasts. But I did that, Toni, and I still got so hurt. And with Josie last semester… it brought all that back. I can’t have sex without thinking about how stupid she made me feel, without thinking about her cheating and Josie walking out my apartment, telling me that it was a mistake, just a onetime thing.”

“Cheryl,” Toni said softly, “Petra was an asshole. No one deserves to be treated the way she treated you—definitely not you. And Josie… honestly, sounds like she probably has her own demons, but that was still so not cool for her to do that. I’m sorry you’ve been hurt like that, Cheryl, but… do you really think I would do that?”

Cheryl sniffed, although no tears had yet escaped her eyes. “How can I risk it, Toni? It hurts so bad when I think about it, and if that happens again…”

“I get it,” Toni whispered. “But… Cheryl, what I did yesterday… tell you how I felt about you… and then you running out of there… you told me that I don’t know what it’s like to bear my feelings to someone and then get crushed.”

Cheryl realized what Toni was saying, and suddenly tears came to her eyes. “Fuck, Toni, I—I’m sorry, I didn’t even think about that, I—”

“It’s okay,” Toni promised, “I’m not scared, Cheryl, look… I can’t promise that neither of us will ever get hurt—hell, we both already are. I can’t promise that we’ll last forever.” A small smile came to Toni’s lips, and Cheryl sniffed, blinking back her tears. “Obviously, I can’t promise that. But how can you deny this—” she placed her hand over Cheryl’s beating heart, “—when the part that hurts so much is that you won’t let it happen?”

Toni’s logic made sense, and Cheryl wanted to agree. “Can I think about it? Just this weekend?”

“Sure,” Toni answered, although Cheryl could sense her sadness. “Ultimately, Cheryl, if you don’t want to do this, I can’t make you. But I can’t keep hooking up with you… it hurts too much, every time you act like you don’t care, when I know that you do.”

“I do care,” Cheryl confirmed, “I do care about you, Toni.”

“I know. But we both know that’s not everything.”

Suddenly, the front door of the apartment could be heard crashing open, and the sound of something loudly falling to the ground caused both girls to jump. “Shit,” Cheryl hissed, realizing that the bedroom door was still open. She practically jumped to her feet and ran for her closet, grabbing two robes and throwing one at Toni, who quickly pulled it on as Cheryl went to go see what was going on.

Her gaze immediately fell on Veronica, who was pushed up against the kitchen counter by a guy—muscular and with dark hair, exactly like she said she’d wanted. Her purse was on the ground, her phone slid halfway across the room—that had been the loud crash noise.

Cheryl debated saying anything, but then Veronica broke her kiss with the guy, and her eyes landed on Cheryl. “Shit—Cheryl! I thought you were still at the club?”

The guy she was with turned around to look at Cheryl, Veronica’s gaze suddenly shifted past Cheryl, and Cheryl looked over her shoulder, seeing Toni poking her head out of the bedroom. She felt her heart clench—rule four. Gone. Although, she realized, maybe the rules had crashed and burned already anyway.

Toni’s eyes were wide as she stared at Veronica and the guy, and she looked a little pale. “Sweet Pea?”

He was staring back at her with wide eyes. “What the fuck?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay y’all who have read my stories before, you know I have to have at least one good cliffhanger at some point, huh? Tbh the only reason this cliffhanger is really here is because I wanted to do Toni’s POV of this part, and this was a Cheryl POV chapter lol.  
> But don’t worry! There will be another update tomorrow, and another on Sunday! Y’all have kept the support coming, so I will keep the updates coming during this angsty period! Plus, next weekend is moving weekend so if the story isn’t finished by then, there will be a few days I can’t post.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I know y’all were looking forward to some jealous Cheryl, sorry it was so short lived! I hope y’all liked Toni’s angry sex... I had too much fun writing it lmao. 
> 
> Thank you all so much for spending time here reading this update! I appreciate you all so much! Have a wonderful Friday night, and come hit me up on Twitter @BrittzandTana if you wanna talk about the update <3


	14. In The Shower... Kinda

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toni and Cheryl both have to catch their best friends up on everything, and Toni waits for Cheryl to text her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Saturday lovelies! First of all, THANK YOU GUYS for all of the amazing comments! Y'all really know how to make a writer feel special c: I am so glad that you guys enjoyed the previous chapter, it was one of my favorites and I'm glad it was one of y'all's too.  
> Second of all, this chapter actually has some split POV, because I couldn't manage to stretch all of this into 2 or 3 chapters - that would've not been fun for me nor you guys haha. So we have mostly Toni POV as is expected, with a little Cheryl.
> 
> So, without further ado, chapter 14!

Toni had tried to be discreet when she poked her head out of Cheryl’s room—she hadn’t meant for Veronica to see her. But then she’d seen Sweet Pea, and had leaned out even more to make sure she wasn’t going crazy, but no, he was there, having just been making out with Veronica.

“Sweet Pea?” she demanded.

“What the fuck?” He blinked in surprise. “Toni? I thought you were at the club?”

“I was,” Toni answered, glancing at Cheryl.

Veronica looked just as confused as Sweet Pea. “So, uh, what’s going on here?” she asked, glancing between Toni and Cheryl. It wasn’t like it wasn’t obvious—they were both wearing robes and were very clearly otherwise naked.

Cheryl let out a sigh of defeat. “Veronica, this is Toni. Toni, this is my roommate Veronica.”

“Yeah, nice to meet you,” Toni said, giving the Latina a weak smile.

“So… you two?” Veronica eyed Cheryl. “I thought—”

“Okay,” Cheryl interrupted, “I think it’s time to call it a night.”

“Yeah uh, I’ll go,” Toni said quickly, “let me just…” She turned around to go back into Cheryl’s room, to change of course, and she heard Sweet Pea telling Veronica sheepishly that he should probably go too. Toni grabbed her clothes off of Cheryl’s floor and slipped into Cheryl’s bathroom. She quickly changed back into her clothes, and then, back in the bedroom, she tossed the robe onto the messy bed.

When she emerged, Cheryl was leaning against the wall, and Toni could tell that she was stressing. Veronica and Sweet Pea didn’t seem to be paying much attention—they seemed to be flirting with each other—so Toni gently placed a hand on Cheryl’s arm and said, “I’m sorry.”

Cheryl shook her head dismissively. “Not your fault.”

“But I—”

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Cheryl insisted, “and after everything we just talked about, Toni… I’m tired of being angry, so it’s okay. The rules… they’re clearly gone. It’s fine. I’ll talk to Veronica. You talk to Sweet Pea. Tell him whatever you want.”

Toni furrowed her eyebrows, a little surprised. “You’ll text me? After you’ve thought about everything.”

“Yes,” Cheryl answered distractedly, glancing over at where Veronica and Sweet Pea had stopped talking.

“Okay,” Toni said with a nod. “I’ll see you… whenever.”

She started toward the door, and Sweet Pea followed her. “Have a good night,” Sweet Pea said to the roommates, who nodded to him as the two walked out of the apartment. As soon as the door had shut, Sweet Pea was grinning. “Dude, nice!”

“What?” Toni asked, unfocused.

“Nice hookup,” Sweet Pea said, “I can’t believe I was about to hook up with your hook up’s roommate. What just happened, by the way?”

Toni sighed. “That was Cheryl. She and Veronica have some things to talk about, I think.”

“Like what?”

Toni shook her head. “Personal stuff.”

“Wait—do you know her? She wasn’t just a hookup?” Sweet Pea asked in confusion.

“It’s… it’s complicated, Sweets,” she muttered.

Sweet Pea furrowed his eyebrows as they entered the elevator and started down to the main floor. “Wait, hold on… you were asking about real love and shit on Tuesday. Was that… was that about her?”

Toni groaned—she shouldn’t have ever asked him anything. “Yeah.”

“Dude, you’re in love with that girl?”

“No,” Toni answered with a scoff. “I mean… not yet.”

“I can’t believe you’ve been secretly dating someone,” Sweet Pea said, shaking his head.

“It’s not like that,” Toni said with a disappointed sigh. “Come on, let’s get a cab home and I’ll tell you about it. I can’t go back to that club and deal with Fangs right now.”

“Okay,” Sweet Pea agreed, “but you should text him and let him know you’re okay, we both thought you were somewhere in the club still.”

Toni took his advice and sent Fangs a text letting him know that she was headed home. And then Sweet Pea flagged down a cab, and once they were both inside, Toni let out a breath and decided to explain. “We were fuck buddies, that’s it. Since the first week of class this semester.”

“Damn, that’s long term as far as fuck buddies go.”

Toni rolled her eyes, noticing the cabbie giving them a curious look in his rearview mirror. “She… she clearly had some damage, she didn’t want us to tell anyone and she wanted to make it purely sex. I didn’t care, you know me. I’ve never really had feelings for anyone, so I didn’t expect this to be any different.”

“But?”

“But obviously, it was,” Toni stated. “I finally admitted it yesterday, and she didn’t react so well. That’s why I was kind of mopey today, and why Fangs forced me to come to that stupid club.”

“And she was there.”

“Yeah, and we sorta started fighting, and then… I guess we were both just so frustrated and horny so we went back to her place to have anger sex,” Toni admitted, thinking about how she’d fuck Cheryl not even an hour earlier. God, it had been so hot. Toni really hoped that wasn’t the last time she ever got to fuck Cheryl, but she knew that if Cheryl couldn’t try to keep opening up to her, she would have to end it. “Anyway, she finally sort of opened up to me, and I was probably about to leave her apartment when you showed up. She said she needs the weekend to think, or whatever.”

Sweet Pea nodded slowly. “But… you have it bad for her, don’t you? You’ve never hooked up with someone for two months and had stronger feelings for them at the end of it.”

“Yeah,” Toni answered with a long sigh. “Yeah, I have it bad for her. She was just such a mystery at first, I wanted to find out stuff about her just for the sake of it. But the more I find out about her, the more I want to keep getting to know her. I can’t even explain it. I’ve never had this sort of emotional chemistry with someone.”

“Well, I hope she decides to give you a chance,” Sweet Pea told her, nudging her fondly. “Also, she was really hot.”

“I know, shut up,” Toni said with an eyeroll. Sweet Pea just chuckled though, and Toni felt herself relax a little. Yeah, she needed to wait it out this weekend to see what Cheryl was going to say, but all she could do was hope for the best.

* * *

“Okay, first of all—oh my god!” Veronica squealed, as soon as Sweet Pea and Toni had left the apartment. “You finally hooked up with someone! Oh my god, I can’t even be mad that my hookup just left, this is way juicier! What happened?”

Cheryl let out a breath. “Ronnie… this isn’t the first time that Toni and I hooked up.”

“Huh?” Veronica asked. “Wait, so, are you two like… dating? I don’t think you’ve ever _just_ hooked up with someone more than once.”

“No,” Cheryl answered, taking in a breath. “Let’s sit?” They moved into the living room and sat down on the couch. “Toni and I have been hooking up since the beginning of the semester.”

“Wait… really?” Veronica asked, shocked. “ _Just_ hooking up?”

“Yeah… for a while,” Cheryl confirmed. “But you know that I told myself, a few weeks after what happened with Josie, that I wasn’t going to do any hookups or anything like that anymore.” Veronica nodded. “I just… was so entranced by her, I couldn’t not. But I didn’t want to get hurt again, V. So… I told her that if we were going to keep hooking up, that it had to be just that. Sex. No one could know, we weren’t allowed to be friendly… we passed each other in the hallway on Tuesdays and Thursdays and we would slip away and make plans to meet up later.”

“Where?” Veronica asked. “Here? I swear I would’ve noticed.”

“Not here,” Cheryl answered. “At first it was only at her apartment—she lives alone. But about a month ago—I think, maybe more now?—her friend Sweet Pea, the guy with his tongue down your throat a few minutes ago, had to move in with her because his rent got raised or something. So… Toni and I had to get… _creative_.”

Veronica lifted an eyebrow. “How creative?”

Cheryl actually smirked now. “Like… library study room, dance club bathroom, Blackbox… that sort of creative.”

“Holy shit, Cher!” Veronica exclaimed. “Not only have you been hooking up with one girl consistently for like, two months, but you are secretly way kinkier than I ever imagined?”

“I hope you didn’t imagine that a lot,” Cheryl said, but then she shook her head a little. “Anyway, when things took that turn, we had to start… talking more I guess. And we started to sort of get to know each other, and…”

“Oh,” Veronica whispered, “oh, I see where this is going. You have feelings for her. Does she not have them back?”

“No, it’s not that. I’ve had feelings for her since a few weeks ago, but I’ve been pushing them away and refusing to acknowledge them, but yesterday… she admitted to me that she does have feelings for me.”

“Wait… so, please tell me that the reason that she was here just now was because you told her that you have feelings for her too?”

Cheryl felt emotions rising inside of her, but she took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “I ran out yesterday, when she told me. I told her I couldn’t let myself feel that way, and I left her there. I figured… I figured that was going to be it—”

“Wait,” Veronica interrupted, “that’s why you were so upset yesterday? That’s what brought up the stuff with Josie and Petra… girl, you should’ve told me.”

“I thought it was over, and I just needed to get over it,” Cheryl argued. “But Toni was at the club tonight, and I realized that I felt so angry at her—for going against our rules, for opening up to me… but of course she was angry at me too.”

“So what, you two came back here to have angry, break-up sex?”

“We were never together, Ronnie, there wasn’t a break-up.”

“Not the point, Cher.”

Cheryl sighed. “Yeah, we kind of did that. But I… I told her about Petra, and Josie.” Veronica looked more than surprised. “And she still… she still wants to, I don’t know… try this. Like, dating, I guess.”

“So, did you tell her yes?” Veronica demanded.

“I told her I’d think about it this weekend.”

“Cheryl! Your whole thing is that you’re scared of feeling things for people that they don’t feel back, and that it’ll end up hurting you. But this girl clearly likes you, and she fought for you. You’re really thinking about letting that go?”

“Yes? No? I don’t know, Ronnie.” Cheryl let out a long breath. “I don’t know.”

Veronica nodded slowly. “Cher… no offense, but don’t you think your whole attitude toward this is a little dramatic? I mean—of course I know that you were hurt, badly, but the reason it affects you _so_ much is because you let it… You could be so happy if you just gave love a chance again.”

Cheryl stood up from the couch, pulling her robe more tightly around her. She wished she could just convince herself that Veronica was right, but she couldn’t just do that. “I’m going to bed.”

“Wait, Cheryl, I didn’t mean to—"

“It’s fine, Veronica. You’re just speaking your mind. But I’m exhausted, and I need to sleep.”

“Yeah, okay. Goodnight,” Veronica said, letting out a sigh. Cheryl turned on her heel and started into her room. She really needed to do a lot of thinking, but all she could think about right now was how tired she was, so she collapsed into her bed and tried her best to get some sleep.

* * *

It was Monday, now, the second week of March and the last week before spring break. Toni hadn’t heard from Cheryl since they hooked up on Friday, and she was starting to wonder if she would. Cheryl had asked for the weekend to think about it, and so no answer gave Toni the message that she’d thought about it—and decided against it. As badly as she wanted to text Cheryl, to try and see where her head was at, she knew that this was all on Cheryl now. Toni had made it clear where she stood.

Still, she couldn’t stop thinking about her. About everything she’d said about her past, with Petra and Josie. It definitely made her feel bad for Cheryl, and she sorta wished she could punch both Petra and Josie in the face now, but it had been nice to see Cheryl get so vulnerable again, for the first time since that night in the theater.

To keep herself from texting Cheryl throughout the day, she kept herself occupied by texting her friends all day.

**Messaging: The GANG**

**Toni – You GUYS I’m bored entertain me**

**Peaches – Aren’t you in class**

**Toni – He’s just going over the exam from last week and I did fine**

**Sweets – “in case you forgot, I’m a genius” – tiny**

**Toni – Shut up**

**Jughead – I feel you, Toni. My professor isn’t going over the exam but he’s starting the next topic, and it’s hard to focus on it knowing that we have a whole week off next week.**

**Peaches – What’s everyone’s plan for spring break??**

**Sweets – Going to hopefully finally fucking get an apartment :o)**

**Peaches – Oh yeah man good luck**

**Peaches – Is anyone going home?**

**Toni – I might for a couple of days. See my grandpa. According to a phone call I had with him last week, my uncle misses me, but I kinda find that hard to believe, and I don’t want to intrude on them for longer than a day or two**

**Jughead – I’m staying on campus**

**Fangs – Hey losers sorry for joining the conversation late, Kevin’s class got out early so we just had a quickie in the bathroom ;D**

**Sweets – Disgusting**

**Peaches – Why would you want to fuck in a bathroom**

**Peaches – Or anywhere on campus for that matter??**

**Fangs – Really, none of you guys have ever had sex in a public place?**

**Toni – First of all, you say that like it’s a common activity**

**Toni – Second of all…**

**Jughead – Wait, are we supposed to take that ominous ellipse with no follow up text to mean that you have also had sex in a public place?**

**Toni – Good detective work, Jug ;)**

**Sweets – ANYWAY. Fangs, what’re you doing for break**

**Fangs – Probably gonna stay here, not like I have much reason to visit. Plus, Kevin isn’t going home so I need to take advantage of us both having so much free time**

**Peaches – Well, Toni if you go home let me know, I’ll go with**

**Peaches – I wanna go back and see my sister, but am not excited to hear my parents fighting every five seconds**

**Toni – I’ll make a plan and let you know**

**Peaches – Cool**

**Peaches – Okay I’m gonna get back to focusing now.**

**Jughead – Yeah my professor is actually going over stuff that I should probably write down now. Talk to you guys later.**

**Toni – Losers**

**Toni – At least I still have Sweets and Fangs**

**Toni – …Sweets? Fangs?**

**Toni – Ugh. I hate you guys.**

**Toni – Guess I’ll tune into this boring ass professor.**

She texted them various more times during the day, and eventually Fangs commented that she was texting a lot more than normal, and asked if she was okay. She insisted that she was fine, and then ghosted the group for the rest of the evening, not wanting to explain herself. She knew that Sweet Pea knew what was going on—he’d asked a few times over the weekend if Toni had heard anything from Cheryl.

He asked again Monday night, and Toni gave him an honest answer somewhat sadly before retiring to her bedroom. She tried to work on the last few things she needed to get done before spring break, but she kept finding herself getting distracted by her thoughts, and her gaze constantly shifted over to look at her phone.

But the text never came, and Toni needed to stop waiting at the edge of her seat. She put away her school things for the night and slipped into her bathroom, leaving her phone behind in her bedroom. If Cheryl hadn’t messaged her already, she probably wasn’t going to. She’d spent the weekend thinking, and had decided that Toni wasn’t worth the risk.

Toni felt her heart ache at the thought, and she silently cursed herself for suddenly being so in touch with her feelings. She stripped off her clothes and started a hot shower. After taking off her makeup, she stepped under the hot water and let out a long exhale. She let water run over her face and soak into her hair, and hoped that it would wash away her thoughts of Cheryl, but it did the opposite. She found herself imagining that Cheryl was here—they hadn’t fucked in a shower yet, despite how many other places they had by now.

Toni groaned, wondering if she should turn the water to cold, but she knew her skin would hate her for that. So instead, she decided to solve this with a different approach, dropping her hand down between her legs. Biting down on her lower lip, she slid her fingers through her own folds. She leaned against the wall of her shower, pushing her fingers inside of herself quickly.

Her eyelids fell, and Toni let her imagination take over. She pictured Cheryl pressing her up against the shower wall, and felt the cool tiled wall against her back. Cheryl’s fiery red hair would be soaked, but no less vibrant, and her eyes would be darker than normal, as she bit down on her lower lip and curled her fingers inside of Toni. Toni let out a moan, although she stifled it as much as she could.

It took her a bit longer than normal to make herself come, despite how much she tried not to think about what was bothering her, but eventually she did hit her orgasm. Feeling somewhat more relaxed, she grabbed her body wash and her loofa and started to scrub her skin raw. The hot water started to turn colder, and by the time she stepped out into the bathroom, it was barely lukewarm.

She felt a little better, maybe, but not much. She got herself ready for bed and wrapped her towel around herself before quickly making her way across the small hall into her bedroom. She dried her hair and her body and didn’t even bother getting dressed, falling into her bed naked and staring up at the ceiling. With a final shred of hope, she checked her phone for any new texts and saw none.

It was time, she supposed, to try and get over Cheryl Blossom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't hate me!!!!  
> We still have 6 chapters left of this story, and there will be another update tomorrow for sure - hopefully earlier in the day! This morning I had to be up at 7am because my girlfriend's sister was graduating, and then we had my girlfriend's grandparents over for lunch, so it was a busy day, and this was as early as I could manage to update. But I know my European readers are always staying up late to read my chapters when I have to work until 5, so I'm trying to make it better on the weekends!! <3  
> Again, please don't hate me for where this left off. I will be updating tomorrow, so we will see what's up with Cheryl very soon <3 Thank you all so much for keeping up with this story and for all of the incredible comments. Please keep them coming, even if you're mad about how this chapter ended haha. Also, feel free to hit me up on Twitter @BrittzandTana any time!! Have a lovely evening everyone! x


	15. Nowhere... Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl finds herself trying to figure out if she's capable of doing what she knows, deep down, is the right thing to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good morning everyone! I figured you all could do with an early update after yesterday's - especially after all of the amazing comments you all left! I was expecting people to be more frustrated at the end of yesterday's chapter, but you all are so amazing and even though the end of the chapter hurt, you guys left some really sweet comments and I really appreciate that! 
> 
> Reading this back just now, I think this chapter does a good job of explaining why Cheryl didn't text Toni. I hope you all will enjoy it! xx

Cheryl skipped her acting class on Tuesday.

She was tempted to skip the whole day and stay locked up in her room instead, but she knew that there was no point in that, especially considering that she’d forced herself to go to her Monday classes already. Plus, this was the week before spring break, and some professors were giving assignments and material that needed to be prepared over the break, and Cheryl needed to know what she was up against for the next week.

Still, she couldn’t convince herself to go to her afternoon class, and she texted Veronica to let her know once she arrived home shortly after her last morning class. She also shot an email to her professor to let him know that she wasn’t feeling well and that she would be back in class on Thursday—she was hoping that saying that would keep her from going back on it. He replied and said it was no problem, she hadn’t been absent all semester and he appreciated her letting him know.

Veronica was less dismissive.

**Messaging: Ronnie**

**Ronnie – Wait, why aren’t you coming?**

**Cheryl – I’m tired and don’t feel good.**

**Ronnie – Didn’t you go to your morning classes?**

**Cheryl – Yeah, and now I don’t feel good.**

**Ronnie – Wait a second, is this about that girl? Toni, right? You said you usually walk past her on Tuesdays and Thursdays, right? You haven’t let me talk to you about her since we talked Friday night… Did you ever text her back?**

**Cheryl – No.**

**Ronnie – Well why the hell not?**

**Cheryl – I don’t know what to say. Anyway, this isn’t your business.**

**Ronnie – I just know you won’t talk to anyone else about it, and you need to talk about it Cheryl. Hell, you’re skipping a whole class just to avoid walking past her? Walk a different way to class!**

**Cheryl – I don’t need this right now, Veronica.**

Cheryl locked her phone and turned it face down, setting it firmly on her nightstand. She had tried to draft a text to Toni multiple times over the weekend, but nothing was ever good enough to express her mix of positive and negative emotions. And Veronica was right, Cheryl didn’t have anyone else to talk to about this sort of things. She wouldn’t choose to talk to Betty over Veronica, that was just too uncomfortable for her. Her parents were obviously not an option, she preferred to distance herself from them as much as she could.

That left one person, the ghost of her dead brother. Shortly after his death, Cheryl used to go to his grave and sit and talk to him. At first, it was a coping mechanism suggested to her by the counselor she spoke to at school following his death. Once Cheryl had gone through the stages of grief, she’d continued to talk out loud to him when she needed guidance, even if it was just in her room looking into her mirror, imagining Jason standing there beside her, or looking at the picture of him with his pearl white, toothy smile that she kept in her wallet. She didn’t look at that picture much anymore, because she liked to imagine him her age when she talked to him.

She’d talked to him like that all through high school, and it felt like his ghost, or whatever version of him she had in her head, had grown up with her. When college started, though, Cheryl had felt the change of scenery improve her mental health quite a bit, and she'd stopped needing to talk to him.

But now, she needed it. She grabbed one of her old sketchbooks out of her desk drawer and sat at the desk, grabbing her favorite graphite pencils. She began to sketch out the shape of Jason’s face, the way she pictured it would’ve grown into. She outlined his bright eyes and his wide smile, and the swoosh of his hair. Once the picture was coming along well, she took in a breath and started talking.

“Hey, JJ,” she said softly. “I know it’s been a while, but I know you don’t mind. You’d be happy to hear how much I’ve enjoyed college so far. I’m almost done with my second year. I’m doing my second musical now, it’s a lot of fun. I think… if you were here, you’d be so excited to come see it in April. You would think the title is funny. Urinetown. You used to laugh at things like that.”

She sat in silence for a moment as she began to shade the drawing in certain places, giving her brother’s face some definition.

“I liked a girl last semester—Josie. It didn’t go anywhere. She didn’t really feel the same. Maybe you’re able to watch me wherever you are now, so maybe you saw all of that happen. I was weak, and I let her hurt me.” Cheryl took in a breath. “But now there’s another girl, and I’m trying not to let her hurt me, but… part of me wants to believe that she won’t. And… I think maybe I’ve hurt her in the same way that Josie hurt me. Maybe I don’t even deserve a chance if I was able to give her one.”

She continued shading Jason’s hair, trying to go for the same soft texture of her own hair, something that she knew she and her brother had in common.

“I think I’m just looking for a way to _know_ for sure. But how can I? The answer is that I can’t, and if I want to try it out, I have to risk my heart. And I still can’t shake the hurt from Petra, Jason. You know how much that hurt me. I felt humiliated after our relationship, humiliated and used and… _worthless_ , Jason. It was like… things that Mumsie would tell me, that I was unlovable or insignificant, it was like she just confirmed those things. And that hurt. And then Josie basically used me—she took advantages of the feelings she _knew_ that I had for her.”

A tear suddenly appeared below Jason’s eye, and Cheryl realized that she was crying. Sniffing, she wiped at her face quickly to keep anymore tears from falling.

“God, sorry. Ugh—why am I apologizing to a drawing of you? I wish you were here, JJ. I can’t know what life would be like if you were still here, but I like to think that you would’ve majored in business or something here at Gale. We would meet up for lunch a few times a week, unless we lived together, which I guess we might’ve done. You probably would’ve wanted to beat up Petra and Josie. You used to always want to stand up to the bullies I faced in elementary school. But by the time you passed, people knew not to bully me, otherwise _I_ would fuck them up.”

Cheryl chuckled a little, setting down her graphite pencil and picking up the paper, rubbing her thumb over Jason’s cheek.

“I just wish I knew what you would say about Toni. God, Jason… she’s unlike anyone I’ve ever known. She’s beyond gorgeous and sexy, but she has this adorable, bright laugh. When she smiles, it’s like she lights up everything. She comes across as this confident, untouchable badass, and like—she is, but she’s also so soft and caring. I don’t know why I doubt whether she’s sincere, but I’ve been fooled before, Jason, and I’m just so scared that she would fool me too.”

Letting out a sigh, Cheryl put the paper down and stared up at the ceiling, leaning back in her desk chair.

“But you didn’t even know that I was gay when you died,” Cheryl whispered, “how can I have any idea what you would say about Toni or Petra or anyone? I mean, I know you love me no matter what. But… I can’t predict what you’d say. Neither of us knew what relationships were like when you passed, JJ. They’re so confusing, sometimes they feel so good and other times they hurt so badly. But you know me, and you know that I’ve always wanted to be loved. Love, though… I can’t tell if it’s ever even real. And the people who say it is… maybe they just tell themselves that to make themselves feel better.”

Another moment of silence passed.

“Toni believes love is real. Last week she was trying to convince me that it is, and… I want to believe it, Jason, trust me, I do. But… what if I’m right and it’s not?”

Suddenly, Cheryl’s phone began to ring from her nightstand, and she let out a breath, wiping at her face in case there were any stray tears. She got up from her desk and went to grab her phone, only to find that it was a spam call. She hit ignore and then glanced over at her desk, but it felt like her conversation with Jason was over. And of course, since he was just a ghost—practically a figment of her imagination now, after almost eight years—she had no answer.

She looked back at her phone, and saw that she had a few more texts from Veronica.

**Messaging: Ronnie**

**Ronnie – Fine. Whatever.**

**Ronnie – Just remember that I’m here for you. If you really don’t want to try a real relationship with Toni, that’s your decision, and I’m here for you no matter what.**

**Ronnie – Just… try to remember how Toni makes you feel. Not the IDEA of what MIGHT happen IF history repeats itself. How does TONI make you feel? Not Petra, not Josie. Toni.**

**Ronnie – See you tonight, babes.**

Cheryl sighed, imagining that Veronica’s response was from Jason for a moment. She chuckled a little, trying to imagine him saying those words but only being able to hear them in his young, almost thirteen year old voice.

Jason—well, Veronica—was probably right, too, but living in the moment was hard for Cheryl. So instead of embracing the advice and doing something risky, like texting Toni like she was supposed to at the end of the weekend, she put her phone back on her nightstand to work on homework.

* * *

Wednesday, Cheryl threw herself into her classes and evening rehearsal to keep herself distracted. She told herself that she was still mulling over all of her thoughts from the day before, and she avoided talking to Veronica as much as she could. She told herself that she needed this time to think, so that whatever decision she made would be well thought out, but in reality, she didn’t think about it at all. She avoided thoughts of Toni as best as she could.

On Thursday, she took a different route to her acting class, proud of herself for even forcing herself to go to the Fine Arts Building at the same time that Toni was there. When she and Veronica were sat next to each other in class, waiting for their professor to start teaching, Veronica nudged her and asked, “Hey, you wanna get drunk at home tomorrow night? Pre-spring break celebration?”

“Definitely,” Cheryl agreed. “Why at home?”

Veronica shrugged. “Everyone is gonna be out partying tonight, so I figured we could just do a drunk night in the three of us. Betty is in too, by the way.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Hey, is it okay if I ask—”

“No, V.”

“Okay, okay.”

After acting class, Cheryl found herself feeling really down. She wasn’t getting to see Toni, and this marked pretty much the longest the two of them had gone without at least seeing each other since the semester started. She felt pathetic, being upset over it when the two of them hadn’t even been dating. But whether she’d liked it or not, Toni had become a part of her routine, and it was so weird not have her in it.

The rest of the day, Cheryl focused on finishing the last of her written homework for spring break, which wasn’t much thankfully. She wanted to leave her spring break free for practicing her music and lines for Urinetown, and also for working on a monologue she had to have memorized by the end of the break for her acting class.

Friday was spent at rehearsal, and almost everyone involved was there that day, including a lot of the crew who didn’t come to regular rehearsals as often. The set was coming along, and the techs were getting an idea of the things they needed to deal with before everything went into full swing preparation after the break. Cheryl definitely saw Josie there, but everything was moving so fast that there wasn’t even time for it to be an issue.

At the end of rehearsal, Margaret, Sage, Beth, and a hesitant Josie all came up to Cheryl, and Margaret grinned and invited her out to party with them. Cheryl politely declined, explaining that she had other plans, and then grabbed her things and headed back to her apartment.

Betty and Veronica were already there when she arrived, and Veronica at least was more than ready to get drunk. Cheryl made sure to eat a quick dinner before she let Veronica pour their first round of shots, but then the night began in full swing. They had some music playing from the TV as they took a few rounds of shots and then poured some wine, sitting around the living room drinking as they talked about random things. At some point, Veronica started reminiscing about high school.

“God, do you guys ‘member that one teacher—what the fuck was her name—the one who always yelled at people for PDA?” Veronica asked.

“Oh yeah, McCarthy,” Betty answered.

“Fuck I hated that bitch,” Cheryl groaned, “she yelled at me and Petra for literally _holding_ hands, when across the hall some heterosexuals were literally making out. Yet she had to prioritize _hand_ holding between _girls_?”

“We do not stan a homophobic bitch,” Veronica stated, lifting her glass, which Betty and Cheryl both clinked their glasses against. “God she was awful.”

“People used to say the reason she did that was because she got caught making out with Coach Nelson in the gym lockers one night and from then on she wanted to ruin everyone else’s happiness too,” Betty said with a laugh, lifting an eyebrow.

“Why do teachers hook up in schools, they have literal houses and shit. High schoolers have like nowhere else to _be_ ,” Veronica exclaimed.

“Agreed,” Cheryl said with a nod, before gulping down the last of her wine. “I want more.” She hopped up off the couch to go refill her glass.

“Just bring the bottle—and the extra bottle too,” Veronica requested.

“What about Ms. Rollins?” Betty said suddenly. “Do you guys think she really is gay like everyone said?”

“Yes,” Cheryl chimed in, “I believe it. She was literally so much of an ally and she had a wedding ring but _never_ spoke about who she was married to. She was the sponsor of GSA and I swear I saw a picture of her and her wife as her phone background once.” Cheryl came back into the living room with two bottles of wine in her hand, and then refilled her glass and took a few long drinks from it. Normally, she liked to drink wine the way it was _supposed_ to be drank, but right now she just wanted to get more drunk.

“That’s so adorable,” Veronica cooed. “We should go visit her sometime and find out for real.”

“Love is so great,” Betty said with a grin, “I can’t wait to finally find someone to marry. How come good men are so hard to find?”

“I keep telling you,” Cheryl teased, “women are so much better.”

“You always say that,” Veronica said, “and I always have to remind you that—”

“Trust me, V, I don’t need a reminder,” Cheryl insisted.

“But I guess now you _could_ have To—”

“Ronnie!” Cheryl snapped, kicking her best friend’s leg.

“Whoa, what did I miss?” Betty asked, her eyebrows shooting up. “I get the feeling that there’s something I don’t know…”

Veronica sighed. “Sorry, it’s Cheryl’s shit, I don’t have the right to say anything.”

“It’s just this girl,” Cheryl muttered, “and she likes me, but… I just can’t risk it, you know?”

“So it’s over? Really?” Veronica asked, looking sadly at Cheryl.

“Well, I told her I would text her back after last weekend, and I’ve ghosted her since. So I’m pretty sure even if I wanted to change my mind, she wouldn’t let me.”

“But you do want to change your mind?” Betty asked curiously. “I mean, obviously this is all you, but it would be nice if _one_ of us could have a good relationship. It might make the other two of us feel like there’s hope.”

Cheryl let out a breath. “What if it just ends with me being hurt?”

“What if it doesn’t?” Veronica asked.

Cheryl groaned, and chugged down the last of her wine, laying out on the couch and putting her feet on Veronica’s lap as she stared up at the ceiling.

“You can talk it out with us,” Betty told her, “you know we give the best drunk advice.”

“I know that you definitely do _not_ give good drunk advice,” Cheryl corrected. Her mind was definitely feeling a little cloudy right now, the alcohol fully setting in after three shots and two full glasses of wine. “I don’t know… she’s so much different than anyone I’ve ever known, you know? And she’s—god, she’s beautiful. And the sex is _so_ good.”

“You’ve already had sex?” Betty asked in surprise.

“Don’t ask her, Betts, she’s had more sex with this girl than you want to know,” Veronica said with a smirk.

“Shut up,” Cheryl snapped. “It’s more than the sex, though. She let me talk about JJ and Petra and Josie and she comforted me and it was so nice.”

“Sounds like you don’t have any reason to doubt her,” Betty told her, and Cheryl glanced over at the blonde, who spoke so casually.

“But—”

“I’m just saying,” Betty interrupted, “she isn’t Petra or Josie.”

“Fuck, I know that!”

“That means that your experience with her,” Veronica continued, “is guaranteed to at least be somewhat different than with Petra and Josie.”

“Yeah, that… makes sense.”

“I think you should give it a shot,” Betty said with a shrug.

“Like I said before,” Cheryl muttered, “I was supposed to text her at the beginning of the week. I’m sure she’s pissed at me now. She probably blocked my fucking number.”

“So go fucking talk to her!” Veronica exclaimed. “Tell her you’re sorry and that you like her too and you wanna give it a shot!”

“What if she says no?” Cheryl demanded.

“Well then you got what your fear wants you to have—nothing. What do you _really_ have to lose?” Veronica demanded. “You’re clearly hurting regardless.”

Betty nodded. “I agree with V.”

Cheryl just groaned.

“You know what you need as motivation?” Veronica asked, hopping up from the couch and making Cheryl’s legs fall off of her lap. “Another shot.”

“Okay, no fucking way,” Cheryl argued, “I’m not going to get anymore drunk and _then_ go talk to Toni. I’ll go, okay?”

“Holy shit, really?” Veronica exclaimed. “Oh my god! Do you want us to come with?”

Cheryl furrowed her eyebrows. “No. I’ll take a cab, I’ll be fine.”

And that’s how Cheryl found herself with her purse slung over her shoulder walking out of her building feeling well above tipsy and flagging down a cab. Part of her was warning that this was a bad idea, but somehow she’d been talked into it, and the drunk part of her was sure that it would be fine. Plus, she wouldn’t deny that she wanted to see Toni. That she’d _missed_ Toni that week. No matter what had been going on between them, they’d always seen each other twice a week, and it had felt so weird not to text her, or pass her in the hallway.

When she got out of the cab at Toni’s building, she felt drunk enough that she didn’t even need to stop to gather her courage. She waltzed right into the building and stumbled slightly up the stairs until she got to Toni’s floor. She confidently approached the apartment and knocked firmly on the door.

She heard a voice say something inside, and then the door swung open to reveal _Sweet Pea_ , not Toni, and Cheryl felt nerves suddenly appear. “Shit,” Sweet Pea said instantly, “uh… Cheryl, right?”

“Um, yes,” Cheryl agreed, “is Toni—”

“Yeah,” he said, “but I’m not sure she’ll be too happy to see you. She’s been… pretty pissed all week.”

“Please, I need to talk to her,” Cheryl heard herself croak out, and she suddenly felt emotions welling up inside her. Worry. She didn’t want Toni to be upset or sad or angry, but she would be stupid to think that Toni wasn’t any of those things—and to act like it wasn’t her fault.

“Wait here, I’ll get her,” Sweet Pea said, and he left the door hanging open as he went over to Toni’s bedroom door and knocked on it. It opened after a second, and Toni’s gaze immediately shifted past Sweet Pea and landed on Cheryl.

She practically pushed past Sweet Pea and marched over to the door. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to—”

“You know what,” Toni snapped, “let me talk first. You told me you’d take the weekend to think about everything, and when you didn’t text back… Yeah I was upset, but I took that to mean you were done with this, so I’ve spent this past week trying to get the fuck over you, and now you just show up here unannounced? Why do you think that’s okay?”

“I fucked up okay,” Cheryl insisted, and she didn’t know where the words were coming from as they suddenly started to spill out of her, “I fucked up. I wanted to text you, Toni, but I was so scared. And it took me longer than I thought to realize that you’ve given me no reason to doubt you, and I’ve been… I’ve been projecting all of my shit onto you and me—”

“You and me?” Toni repeated. “What even does that mean, Cheryl? Kind-of-friends who fuck? Just fuck buddies?”

“Toni,” Cheryl pleaded, “please let me just—”

“I gave you time, Cheryl,” Toni whispered. “You could have at least given me the courtesy of a text message saying that you couldn’t do it.”

“But I want to try,” Cheryl pleaded, “please, Toni… you don’t understand, I thought no one I could ever find would be worth the risk of getting hurt, not after what happened to me in the past, but this week, Toni, I realized—I—you…” Cheryl took in a deep breath. “You… you’re part of my routine, you’re what I look forward to when I’m stuck in class. I hate texting people, but I—I get excited when you text me. You’re so different, and the reason I broke so many of my _stupid_ fucking rules for you was because I thought you were worth it. So I don’t know why it took me so fucking long to realize that _you’re_ worth the risk, but you are, okay? And I know that now.”

Toni looked hurt, and Cheryl couldn’t figure out what she’d said to warrant the expression.

“W-what?”

“I’m so glad you’ve just now decided I’m _worth it_ ,” Toni snapped, “but you already hurt me, Cheryl. You strung me along and then pushed me away and then pulled me closer and then ghosted me… I can’t deal with this fucking back and forth, Cheryl. I _won’t_.”

“You—you don’t have to,” Cheryl insisted frantically, realizing that this might very well be turning into a rejection. She felt tears brimming in her eyes. “You _won’t_ have to, Toni I want to give us a shot, p-please… You said last week… you said you’re not scared. The thing is, Toni, I wish I could _not_ be scared, but I am. I’m so scared, and I’m sorry it took me so long to face my fear. I didn’t mean… when I said that I realized you’re worth it, I didn’t mean it like that. Ever since I met you, I knew that you were… special a-and amazing, Toni. I never doubted that, I’ve just been fooled before and part of me was scared that you would fool me too—even if I didn’t _really_ believe that you would, I couldn’t just ignore that fear, Toni, I’m… I’m not good at overlooking the past and living in the present, okay? It’s my—what’s it called, fatal flaw, or whatever?” Cheryl stopped talking and took in a deep breath.

“You’re drunk,” Toni finally said, her voice quiet.

Cheryl held up two fingers, pinching them close together. “Little bit.”

“Look, Cheryl, I want to believe you, really—”

“Then believe me,” Cheryl pleaded. “I know I don’t really deserve another chance, and I know I’ve hurt you, and knowing that hurts me. I never meant for you to get hurt, but what you said last weekend… you were completely right. I put you in the same situation that I was trying to prevent for myself. I fucked up, and I want to make things right, please. No stupid rules.”

Toni breathed in slowly, looking Cheryl up and down. “You’re serious?”

“I’m serious.”

“ _No_ rules?”

“None.”

“You sure you can handle that, Blossom?” Toni asked, lifting an eyebrow, her voice much quieter now. “When I first met you, you literally had rules about how aggressively I could take off your shirt.”

“I have expensive clothes, Toni,” Cheryl tutted, but then Toni’s lips were spreading into a grin, and the girl was suddenly grabbing the bottom of Cheryl’s blouse and tugging her forward. Cheryl nearly lost her balance, but then her lips were on Toni’s, and soft hands were steadying her at her hips. Cheryl melted into the smaller girl, the kiss so soft between them, like the one from the Theater. Not fast or demanding, but soft and comforting and gentle. Cheryl hummed into her lips, letting herself relax into the girl and actually _enjoy_ this kiss, rather than letting her anxiety dominate it. She was sure that the alcohol was contributing to how easy it was, and she knew that this wouldn’t be the last battle with herself over this, but she would do her best to fight them from now on, and not just give in.

Suddenly, Sweet Pea was coughing overdramatically from Toni’s living room. “You guys know you’re still like, standing over the fucking threshold, right?”

Toni pulled away from Cheryl, smirking a little and offering a hand to Cheryl, who took in hesitantly. Toni carefully pulled her inside the apartment and closed and locked the door. “So I know you two met sort of before, but here’s your official introduction. Sweet Pea, this is Cheryl… Cheryl, this is Sweet Pea.”

“Nice to meet you,” Sweet Pea said, quirking up an eyebrow.

“You too,” Cheryl said, her stomach flipping a little at the newness of the situation, and also the fact that he probably could hear almost all of the conversation that she and Toni had just had.

“We’re just gonna…” Toni trailed off, gesturing to her room, and Sweet Pea smirked and nodded, reaching for some headphones that were resting on the coffee table. Cheryl blushed, and then followed Toni into her bedroom. “Look, Cheryl, I just think maybe we should talk this out a little more.”

“You’re still mad.” Cheryl meant it to be a question, but it didn’t come out that way.

Toni sighed. “I mean, I’m upset that you ghosted me, yes. But I’m more hurt than anything. I know you think I don’t get what you’ve been feeling, and in a way, you’re right. I’ve never been hurt like you have before. But I’ve never liked someone enough to be hurt by them, and the first time I really felt _lasting_ feelings for someone— _you_ —and I admitted them… you shut it down and that hurt. Especially since I know that you felt it too.”

Cheryl nodded. “Um, can I sit? I’m—uh, kinda drunk, yeah.” Toni nodded, and they both sat down on Toni’s bed, which Cheryl hadn’t been on in a while, and in all honesty, she missed it. “I know that I messed up, Toni. I spent all week trying to figure out if I was even able to try something more than sex with you. Every time I got close to feeling ready, the fear made me slip right back into denial. And maybe being drunk helped a little tonight, but drunk me is not known to act in ways that sober me wouldn’t _want_.”

“You mean, being drunk made you more likely to do something that you’ve been wanting to do sober?” Toni asked, seeming a little amused even though that was exactly what Cheryl meant.

“Yes,” Cheryl answered plainly, her eyebrows knitting a little. “Yes. I think… I’ve sort of known since Wednesday that I wanted to… to try something with you, but… I told myself it was too late, you were already mad and I—I… um, Ronnie and Betty talked me into giving it a shot, and I don’t regret it one bit. And I don’t think I’ll regret it in the morning, Toni. I can’t promise it will be easy for me to not be scared, but I want to fight my fear. You haven’t given me any reason to think that you would do something like what’s been done to me in the past, if anything I’ve given you more of a reason to not trust me…”

“You’re not wrong,” Toni agreed, “and trust me… I know this won’t be easy. I think both of us are going to need to go slow with the emotions part of this, each for our own reasons. But Cheryl… I’ve never felt the way I feel for you before towards anyone. And I spent all week trying to get over you, but you were pretty much all I could think about.”

“Same,” Cheryl whispered. “I’m sorry, Toni. For stringing you along and hurting you. You are… unlike anyone I’ve ever met before, and I never again want to be the reason that you’re hurting.”

“You know I don’t want to be the reason for you hurting either,” Toni assured her, placing a hand atop of hers. “And I didn’t forget everything you told me last week, Cheryl. About your ex and about Josie. I want you to know… until me, you’ve clearly had terrible taste in women.” Toni smirked a little, and Cheryl couldn’t even fight her small smile and the little laugh that escaped her lips. “Seriously, though. I really like you, Cheryl, if it isn’t obvious by now. And I’m going to give you this chance, and like I said, I’m not expecting it to be easy, but…”

Cheryl held her breath, waiting for Toni to give her the condition.

“But, Cheryl, if this happens again… if you won’t _talk_ to me, and you just disappear like that… I can’t deal with that. I shouldn’t have to. If you’re scared or worried or anything like that… if you _need_ space, you have to tell me, okay?”

“I will,” Cheryl promised, “I will, Toni. I promise.”

“Okay, good.” Toni smiled a little at Cheryl. “Now, you should probably get home, huh? You’re pretty drunk.”

“I don’t wanna,” Cheryl whispered, “can I stay here?” Cheryl wanted to think that it was the alcohol talking—she’d never stayed the night at Toni’s before, and the last person she’d spent the night with was Josie that horrible day, although that hadn’t even been at Josie’s apartment, it’d been at Cheryl’s.

Toni blinked. “Of course, yeah. But, are you sure?”

“I miss your bed,” Cheryl heard herself blurt out, and Toni laughed at that.

“I’m going to assume that was the alcohol talking, Miss Four Hundred Thread Count.”

“I have Five Hundred,” Cheryl murmured.

Toni just smiled, and then got up and opened up her bedroom door, walking across the small hall into the bathroom. Cheryl heard her messing with something, and she came back in holding a packaged toothbrush. “Lucky you, I have an extra. You wanna go ahead and wash up for bed? I think you need to sleep off however many drinks you’ve had tonight.”

“You don’t need to take care of me,” Cheryl insisted, worry washing over her, “if you want me to leave, I can—”

“No,” Toni interrupted, “seriously, Cheryl. It’s fine. Go get ready for bed.”

Cheryl stood from the bed and took the toothbrush. “Thanks, Toni.” Toni just nodded, and Cheryl slipped into the bathroom without glancing into the living room where Sweet Pea was. She borrowed some of Toni’s toothpaste to brush her teeth, and then she did her best to wash all of her makeup off of her face. After that she just used the bathroom and then quickly reentered Toni’s bedroom.

Toni was wearing pajamas, and a pair of shorts and a tank top were sitting on her bed. “For you,” she said with a small smile, walking past Cheryl and going for the bathroom. Cheryl closed the bedroom door and changed into the clothes given to her, and then she crawled under the covers of Toni’s bed and texted her roommates.

**Messaging: Ronnie and Betty**

**Cheryl – Don’t wait up. Staying at Toni’s.**

**Ronnie – Holy shit!! When is the last time our Cheryl Blossom stayed at someone’s place overnight?!?!**

**Betty – Chill, Ronnie, you’re going to scare her.**

**Ronnie – Sorry, sorry!**

**Betty – We love you, Cher! Glad things went well with Toni.**

**Ronnie – Fill us in tomorrow! <3 Love you, girl!**

**Cheryl – Love you guys. Night.**

Cheryl locked her phone and set it on Toni’s nightstand, pulling her covers up to her chin and waiting for Toni to come back in. A few moments later, she did, and Toni came closed the door behind her and flipped off the lights, and then was slipping into the bed next to Cheryl. “You still sure you want to stay?” Toni whispered through the darkness.

“I’m sure,” Cheryl answered. “Toni… I know it’s going to take you some time to fully trust me, but just know… I’m way more honest about how I’m feeling when I’m drunk.”

Toni laughed a little. “I think I’m going to have to verify that with your roommates, but I guess from what I’ve seen, I would believe that.”

Cheryl smiled a little. “Goodnight, Toni.”

“Night, Blossom.”

It only took a few minutes for Cheryl to start to doze off, the alcohol helping to coax her into sleep, along with the familiar scent of Toni and her sheets. Tomorrow would be hard, she was sure, but tonight, she felt happy, and that was enough for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay!! They are finally agreed! What do you guys think is gonna happen in the morning?  
> I hope where Cheryl was coming from was understandable... you know when you want to text someone back, but you've already gone too long without texting them, and if you text them now it'll just draw attention to how long it took to respond? Not to mention all of the actual emotion she was dealing with. That said, I think it was important that Toni tell Cheryl that from now, she needs to have communication between the two of them, because Toni definitely doesn't deserve to have to deal with no communication all of the time, and Cheryl knows that.  
> Anyway, I hope you all liked the chapter! This week is about to get crazy, I am going to be packing up my stuff and getting ready to move next weekend. We've been staying at my girlfriend's parents house, and we are going to drive up to our new apartment, and then move everything from our old apartments to our new one... it's going to be a *lot* haha. I will try and update regularly this week, but it is going to be crazy. Expect for sure at least one more update before the weekend. That's why I wanted to get through the angst this weekend, in case it takes me a little bit of time to get around to posting again.  
> Thank you all so much for spending some time today to read this update! I appreciate you and all of your comments so much! Hit me up on Twitter @BrittzandTana if you wanna chat :) xx


	16. Cheryl's Bed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl decides that in order to break the ice, a party is in order.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Wednesday lovelies! Thank you all so much for the sweet comments you all left on the previous chapter! I am so excited for you guys to get to read the last stretch of this story. We may have gotten through the main bump, but there are still some things to be taken care of, as you all know.  
> So, without further ado, please enjoy chapter 16!

Toni didn’t get much sleep Friday night.

She laid for at least an hour next to Cheryl, listening to her even breathing, and feeling her heart pound in her chest. She had slightly mixed feelings about having let Cheryl stay the night, but she knew that as long as the girl didn’t bail in the morning, it would probably be fine.

Maybe that was part of the reason that Toni couldn’t fall asleep for longer than an hour at a time. She wanted to make sure that Cheryl was still there. It was dumb, she knew that, but she couldn’t help it.

When it was nearing eight in the morning, and Toni woke up once again—she’d lost count of how many times her eyes had flickered open only to see that it was still useless to be awake—she decided that her night was over. She gently slid out from under her covers, glancing at Cheryl who was still passed out. Letting out a breath, she went to her dresser and pulled out some clothes for the day, and then quietly slipped out of her room and into the bathroom to shower.

When she’d finished getting ready for the day—makeup included, even—she peeked back into her bedroom to find that Cheryl was _still_ asleep. Trying to take her mind off of the sleeping girl, she padded into the kitchen to scramble some eggs. She usually left egg making to Sweet Pea, but he was also still passed out, sprawled across the couch.

Toni was finishing up making breakfast when she heard a door close. She glanced over and saw that her bedroom door was swung open, and her bed was empty. Cheryl must have gone into the bathroom. The sound must’ve also stirred Sweet Pea, who groaned from the couch as he sat up. “Morning,” Toni said to him, drawing his attention.

“You’re awake,” he muttered, rubbing his eyes. “Um—last night?”

“She’s still here,” Toni said quietly, “I think she just went into the bathroom.”

“Are you okay?” he asked just as quietly, standing up from the couch and stretching his arms above his head. “You’re up awfully early.”

“I’m fine,” Toni insisted. “Made enough eggs for everyone, so feel free to have some.”

“Thanks, Tiny.”

Toni filled two small plates with eggs and poured two glasses of water. She set them on the bar and took a seat in front of one of them, taking in a breath as she waited for Cheryl to come out of the bathroom.

She did a few seconds later, her face a little red like she’d just scrubbed it clean. “Hi,” she said quietly to Toni, glancing then to Sweet Pea.

“Morning,” Toni answered with a smile. “I made eggs.”

“Thank you,” Cheryl said, walking over to sit next to Toni. Sweet Pea gave Toni a wink and then disappeared into the bathroom. “Toni, I’m so sorry for staying here last night. Last night, I was… drunk, first of all, and—”

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Toni insisted. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” Cheryl assured her, “I don’t really get bad hangovers.”

“Lucky girl,” Toni commented, smirking a little. They both started eating their eggs in silence, and Toni heard the shower turn on in the bathroom.

“Please kick me out whenever,” Cheryl said suddenly, “if I’m intruding. I know it’s spring break now, I don’t know what your plans are—”

“Pretty much don’t have any,” Toni interrupted. “I might go see my family for a day or two, but that’s still up in the air. I take it you don’t have any plans either?”

“No. I like to see my parents as little as I can manage,” Cheryl answered.

There was another moment of silence between them, and then Toni finally decided to just ask what she wanted to know. “Cheryl… about last night… I need to know where _sober_ you stands…”

Cheryl let out a slow breath. “Sober me is a little more scared, Toni, I’m not going to lie to you. But… I told you last night that I want to give this a chance. And I was serious about that.”

“And the no rules and all of that?”

“Yes, Toni,” Cheryl assured her, “I’m going to give this a shot, as long as you still want to.”

Toni nodded. “Okay… okay, good. So… where do we start? All of this is very unfamiliar territory to me, I mean. I feel like there’s already so much between us, and I don’t know what exactly is the step we take to try _this_ , as you keep saying.”

“Let’s finish breakfast,” Cheryl suggested, “and then come back to that? I’m really hungry.”

Toni’s lips quirked into a smile as she nodded, and the two of them dug back into their eggs. A few minutes later, they were both finished, and the sounds of the shower stopped, telling Toni that they only had a few minutes that they’d be alone in the living area.

“My first instinct,” Toni told Cheryl suddenly, “is that we should go out… like, on a real date. But, I’ll admit… it wouldn’t feel like a _first_ date, would it?”

“No,” Cheryl agreed, “although I would like to try that… but maybe that’s not where we start.”

Toni lifted an eyebrow. “Got a better idea, Blossom?”

“Maybe we break out of this… slightly _awkward_ phase by outright defying one of the old rules,” Cheryl suggested.

“Which one?” Toni asked, a little confused, considering that all of the rules had been broken by this point.

“Number four. And number one, maybe.”

“I’m not following, Cheryl.”

“Have you told all of your friends about me, Topaz?” Cheryl asked, lifting her eyebrows.

“No, just Sweets,” Toni answered.

“Well, my roommates both know about you—at least, after I got wasted and told Betty yesterday. Still, maybe the best way to rip the band-aid off, as they say, is for you and all of your friends to come over to my apartment, and we can all meet formally,” Cheryl suggested.

Toni was honestly surprised at the suggestion, mostly just because it seemed pretty bold from Cheryl. “Okay.”

“Do you think they’d all be free tonight?” Cheryl asked, and although she did sound hopeful, Toni could suddenly sense the anxiety that Cheryl felt. Instinctively, she reached out and placed a hand softly on Cheryl’s, rubbing her thumb across soft, pale skin.

“Positive,” Toni said, as she heard the bathroom door open behind her, “my friends have no lives.”

“Hey, excuse me?” Sweet Pea demanded. “I have a life.”

“Oh yeah?” Toni asked, turning to look at her friend, who was still dressed in pajamas. “What are your Saturday night plans?”

“Don’t have any,” Sweet Pea grumbled.

“Well, I think Cheryl is going to have all of us over tonight,” Toni said, glancing back at the redhead who nodded. “You wanna come?”

“Sure,” Sweet Pea agreed, glancing curiously at Cheryl as he walked into the kitchen to get himself a plate of eggs.

“Let me just text everyone else,” Toni told Cheryl.

“I’ll let Veronica and Betty know, too.”

“Oh shit,” Sweet Pea said suddenly, “I almost forgot that Veronica is your roommate. Damn.” Toni rolled her eyes at her friend as she texted in their group chat.

**Messaging: The GANG**

**Toni – Okay guys. Don’t freak out.**

**Jughead – Uh oh.**

**Peaches – Wtf you don’t just say “don’t freak out” and not expect us to NOT freak out!**

**Toni – Dude I’m literally trying to type my next messages stfu**

**Toni – So I’ve sort of been seeing this girl**

**Fangs – HOLY SHIT CAN I FREAK OUT NOW I’M SO HAPPY FOR YOU TINY**

**Jughead – Why even ask if you’re just responding like that anyway…**

**Peaches – What girl omg??**

**Toni – Look guys, it’s a long story. But we figured it’s time for everyone to know, even though – just so we are CLEAR, Fangs – we haven’t put a label on things. Her name is Cheryl, and she wants all of us to come over to her apartment so you all can meet her and I can officially meet her roommates.**

**Fangs – INVITATION ACCEPTED**

**Fangs – Can I bring Kevin**

**Fangs – omg this is so exciting**

**Peaches – This is big news omg**

**Peaches – But yeah ofc I’ll be there tonight**

**Jughead – I can probably come too yeah**

**Fangs – Where’s sweets why is he not freaking out about this too?!**

**Toni – He’s literally still living with me I already told him obviously**

**Fangs – I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU TOLD HIM BEFORE ME**

**Fangs – you didn’t answer me about Kevin**

**Toni – Yeah go ahead**

**Toni – I’ll text you the time and address later**

**Toni – You assholes better not fucking embarrass me okay**

**Fangs – NEVER!**

**Peaches – I’ll do my best to control these boys for you, T.**

**Toni – Thank you Peaches, I appreciate you**

“Alright, so… seems like everyone can come,” Toni said, glancing up at Cheryl.

“Good,” Cheryl said with a soft smile, although Toni could read the anxiety in her expression. “It’s been a while since I’ve hosted anyone. Should be fun.”

“You sure?” Toni asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Cheryl insisted, “yes.”

“Great,” Sweet Pea said with a grin, running his hand through his wet hair. “Can’t wait.”

Cheryl cleared her throat. “Um, well maybe I should go. I think I should go fill in Betty and Veronica and let them know about tonight.”

“Okay,” Toni responded with a nod, and Cheryl got up and started to Toni’s room.

“I’ll just grab my stuff…”

She slipped into the bedroom and closed the door behind her, and Sweet Pea gave Toni a curious look. “So… this is happening?” Toni gave a shrug, not really sure what he was referring to in specific. “I’m happy for you, Tiny. And she seems nice.”

Toni snickered a little, knowing that Cheryl did not come off as nice upon first meeting usually, but that Sweet Pea happened to be meeting her in a moment of vulnerability. “Thanks, Sweets.”

A minute later, Cheryl exited the room looking ready to go with all of her things, and she gave Sweet Pea a quick nod as she started toward the door. Toni hopped up to walk her out.

“Hey,” Toni said quickly, “are… are we good, then?”

“We’re good,” Cheryl clarified. “And hopefully this evening will allow us to break some ice.”

“I’d like that,” Toni agreed with a smile. She took a step closer to Cheryl, noticing that the redhead seemed to hold her breath as she did. Toni softly pressed a kiss to Cheryl’s lips, and the girl kissed her back gently as well. The kiss ended quickly though, as Toni took a step back, noticing that Cheryl seemed disappointed at the kiss ending. She tried not to smirk as she smiled. “I’ll see you tonight?”

“I’ll text you details,” Cheryl agreed.

“Bye, Blossom.”

Cheryl finally smiled. “See you, Topaz.”

* * *

**Messaging: Cheryl**

**Toni – It’s weird seeing your name in my phone as Cheryl instead of CB, but I figured it was about time to change it.**

**Toni – What time should I tell my friends to show up?**

**Cheryl – Seven?**

**Cheryl – But… maybe you could show up a little earlier? I’d prefer fewer awkward meetings.**

**Toni – You can just admit that you miss me already, Blossom ;)**

**Cheryl – Don’t make me regret setting up this party…**

**Toni – This was 100% your idea, Cheryl, but if you don’t want to do it you really just need to tell me. Communication, remember?**

**Cheryl – I was joking, Toni. Don’t worry. Can you show up early or not?**

**Toni – Of course, not like I’m doing much. It’s spring break now, after all!**

**Toni – Should I bring anything? Cheap red wine? Cheap greasy tacos? Anything cheap, you name it, I’ll get it.**

**Cheryl – You don’t need to bring anything, I can take care of dinner and alcohol.**

**Toni – You don’t know my friends, they can get a little crazy with food and alcohol… especially when it’s being provided free of charge.**

**Cheryl – Seriously, Toni, it’s okay.**

**Toni – How did Betty and Veronica react about the party?**

**Cheryl – Let’s just say the apartment is now bustling with excitement.**

**Toni – I’m excited to meet them both—officially, too.**

**Toni – And hey… I know you coming to my place last night was probably really hard. Don’t think that’s lost on me, okay?**

**Cheryl – I was drunk, so it actually wasn’t too difficult.**

**Toni – Well, still. I appreciate you taking the risk. This past week was hard, and I know you were mad too.**

**Cheryl – You can thank Ronnie and Betty for talking me into it. But seriously… they just helped me realize that just because I’ve had bad experiences in the past, that doesn’t mean that this will be the same. And honestly… you are so different from anyone I’ve ever been with, Toni.**

**Toni – Ditto, Blossom.**

**Toni – Okay, I’m gonna shower and get ready for later. I’ll see you at 6:30.**

**Cheryl – See you then.**

* * *

Toni took in a deep breath as she stood in the elevator that was bringing her up to almost the top floor of Cheryl’s building. She still couldn’t believe that Cheryl lived in an apartment like she did, but she wasn’t complaining. The elevator came to a stop, and the doors slid open. Toni slipped through them, holding firmly onto the cheap bottle of red wine that she knew Cheryl liked—or at least, didn’t hate. Despite Cheryl’s insistence, she felt like she had to bring something.

She got to Cheryl’s door and knocked firmly, pushing aside the nerves she was having about the evening. She’d never felt so nervous to meet a girl’s friends, or to have her friends meet a girl. It was completely out of character for her to feel this jittery, excited and anxious feeling in her chest that she’d been feeling all day.

The door swung open to reveal a girl with a tight blonde ponytail, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. She looked like the last person who would live in an apartment like this—compared to Cheryl, at least. “Hey!” the girl, who had to be Betty, chimed. “Toni, right? I’m Betty. Come on in.”

“Yeah, nice to meet you,” Toni said with a smile, taking a step into the apartment.

Cheryl was suddenly coming out from the hallway that led to her room, looking alarmed. “Toni,” she said breathlessly, “sorry, I didn’t hear you knock.”

“That’s okay,” Toni insisted. “I, uh, brought some wine.”

“You didn’t have to,” Cheryl insisted, although she came over and grabbed the bottle from her. There were a few other bottles of various alcohols sitting in the center of the dining table, and Cheryl placed it with the others. “But thanks. I see you met Betty.”

“Yeah,” Toni said with a nod.

“I feel like I actually recognize you,” Betty said curiously. “Maybe from a party or something?”

“Hm,” Toni hummed, “well I think you were at my friend Fangs’ party a few weeks back. The one with the rooftop.”

“Oh, yeah, that was the freshman party that Cheryl complained about going to,” Betty recalled, glancing at the redhead who flushed.

“Yeah, I think that was before she knew that I’m a freshman,” Toni agreed with a smirk.

“What’s your major, Toni?” Betty asked curiously.

“Film. And you’re… criminology?” Toni recalled.

“That’s right,” Betty confirmed, “wow, I’m honored that Cheryl has mentioned _me_.”

Cheryl scoffed. “Don’t flatter yourself, Betty, you received maybe _two_ mentions.” Betty rolled her eyes, and then suddenly another person was coming out into the living area—Veronica.

“Toni!” she chimed excitedly. “Hello again! Nice to see you not in one of Cheryl’s robes.”

Toni felt her cheeks flush a little. “Yeah, nice to see you not making out with my best friend.”

“Wait,” Betty said, “I think I missed something…”

“I’ll explain later, B,” Veronica insisted. “So, Toni, speaking of your friend… he’s coming tonight?”

“Veronica,” Cheryl snapped.

“What? I’m just asking a question.”

Toni smirked. “Yeah, he’ll be here.”

“Excellent.”

“ _Anyway_ ,” Betty said, still looking confused, “so… how did you two even meet?”

“Maybe we save those stories for when my friends get here,” Toni suggested, “because uh, I’m sure they are wondering as well.”

“So who all is coming?” Veronica wondered.

“Sweet Pea, of course,” Toni started, “and my friend Fangs and his… boyfriend? I’m not sure if they’re official, but his name is Kevin. And then my friends Jughead and Peaches.”

Betty hummed, lifting an eyebrow. “What interesting names.”

“Don’t be rude, Betty,” Cheryl snapped, and Betty rolled her eyes.

Toni just shrugged, though. “When we were kids, we made up our own gang and most of us wanted gang sounding nicknames for it,” Toni admitted.

“So what was yours?” Veronica asked curiously.

“I didn’t want one,” Toni answered, “mostly since my name is already a nickname, and I like my name.”

“What’s that short for? Antoinette?” Betty wondered.

Toni met Cheryl’s gaze, finding it focused intently on her despite her friends doing most of the question asking. “Yeah,” Toni answered, “but I don’t really like to go by that.”

“It’s pretty, though,” Betty said.

“Like you can talk about not shortening names, _Elizabeth_ ,” Cheryl said to the blonde, lifting an eyebrow.

Suddenly, Toni’s phone buzzed, and she grabbed her phone quickly to see if it was important.

**Messaging: The GANG**

**Fangs – Are you sure that that apartment number is right? That’s like, almost at the top of the building….**

**Toni – Trust me, I’m sure lol. Are you already here?**

**Fangs – I was just too excited to meet her! Kev and I are on our way up now!**

“Fangs and Kevin are about to get here,” Toni said, looking up at the three girls.

“Ooh yay!” Veronica chimed. “We haven’t hosted a party here in forever, I’m so excited. We have to all take shots once everyone is here.”

“Deal,” Toni agreed, glancing at Cheryl.

A moment later, there was a knock on the door, and Betty headed over to open it, at which point Toni took the opportunity to shift closer to Cheryl. She touched Cheryl’s hand slightly with her own, and was surprised when she felt Cheryl fold their hands together, intertwining their fingers.

When the door swung open, Fangs and Kevin were both there, the former grinning excessively. “Hey,” Betty greeted, “you guys must be Fangs and Kevin?”

“I’m Fangs,” Fangs supplied, “and this is my hot man Kevin.”

“Nice to meet you,” Kevin said with a smile, as Fangs glanced past Betty.

“I’m Betty,” Betty said, stepping back to let the guys in.

“Hey, Tiny!” Fangs chimed.

“Hi Fangs,” Toni said back, rolling her eyes at his use of the nickname around people she was trying to impress. “Cheryl, this is Fangs and Kevin. Guys, this is Cheryl.”

“Nice to meet you both,” Cheryl said, extending her hand formally. Kevin shook it politely, and then Fangs did the same, but pulled Cheryl toward him suddenly for a hug, disconnecting Toni and Cheryl’s hands. Cheryl looked very surprised, and flashed wide eyes at Toni as she sort of hugged Fangs back.

“I have been so excited to meet you all day,” Fangs exclaimed.

“Because he’s too invested in my life,” Toni insisted. The awkward hug broke, and Cheryl drew closer to Toni again.

“I’m Veronica,” Veronica said, smiling at the boys, “nice to meet you guys.”

“You look sort of familiar,” Fangs told Veronica, lifting an eyebrow.

“Sweet Pea went home with her last week,” Toni offered up.

“Oh shit, that’s right,” Fangs exclaimed. “Wow, talk about a coincidence, right?”

“And actually,” Kevin said, “I think I recognize you, Cheryl. Are you in theater?”

“I’m a performing arts major,” Cheryl answered.

“Right,” he said with a nod, “I’m Theater! I think I’ve seen you around. Were you in the musical last semester?”

“I was,” Cheryl answered with a smile.

“And she’s—what’s her name? Penelope?—in this semester’s musical,” Toni offered up, squeezing Cheryl’s hand.

“Hold on,” Fangs interrupted, “is _this_ why you were interrogating Kev about the difference between theater and performing arts back at my place when you met him?” Toni’s cheeks just flushed red, and Fangs grinned. “Peaches is gonna get a kick out of that.”

“Oh shut up,” Toni muttered, rolling her eyes. Suddenly, there was another knock on the door, and Toni lifted an eyebrow. “I think I figured out how to get my friends to actually show up on time to things.”

This time, Veronica went to the door—obviously a little excited for who was possibly behind it—and swung it open to reveal all three of Toni’s remaining gang. “Well hello there!” Veronica chimed brightly. “Come on in, come on in.”

“How did you get them to be so early, Jug?” Toni asked, lifting an eyebrow at Jughead.

“Actually, you can thank _me_ ,” Sweet Pea insisted.

“Oh that makes more sense, actually,” Toni said, “because I know you just couldn’t wait to get your horny ass over here.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Sweet Pea snapped at her.

“Uh—am I missing something?” Peaches asked, looking between the two of them in confusion, before shaking her head and just looking at Toni and Cheryl. “You must be Cheryl! I’m Peaches.”

“Nice to meet you,” Cheryl said with a smile.

“And I’m Jughead,” Jughead supplied, glancing around at the girls. His eyes lingered on Betty, and Toni quirked up an eyebrow as Betty gave him a shy smile.

“And obviously you’ve met Sweet Pea, but for Betty, that’s Sweet Pea.”

“Betty,” Betty returned, looking between the three guys.

“And I’m Veronica,” Veronica added, “as one of you already knows.” There was a momentary pause, as everyone tried to figure out what to say after introductions. “And I think that _shots_ will be an excellent way for us to break the ice. Anyone else would agree?”

“Hell yes,” Peaches agreed, “and then I personally would love to know what exactly is going on, because I’m still confused about how you, Toni, have been keeping something like this a secret.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Toni said, waving her friend off, “we’ll get there. First, shots.”

Veronica poured nine shots, and everyone took theirs back gratefully. They then moved into the living room, but only after they each had some other kind of drink poured into a glass. Toni noticed that Cheryl poured herself a glass of the cheap red wine that she brought, and it made her heart flutter a little—a feeling that she had rarely felt before meeting Cheryl.

“So,” Betty said, “let’s hear the story, shall we?”

Toni and Cheryl exchanged looks, and Toni thought she was going to be the one explaining, but then Cheryl suddenly started speaking, “It’s not a very complicated story, really.” That was true to some degree, Toni could admit, and Cheryl was probably not going to share much about the past couple of weeks. “Toni and I met at the Fine Arts Reception on the second day of class this semester…” She trailed off, and Toni took it as her cue.

“And then we hooked up,” Toni said with a smirk. “And we kept doing that… until recently, when _we_ ,” she emphasized, glancing at Cheryl, “realized that it was… kind of becoming more than just hooking up.”

“Yes,” Cheryl agreed, “and… that’s pretty much it.”

“Wait,” Fangs said with a frown, “that’s the whole story? I was hoping for some really juicy details?”

“Oh, I know what you want to hear,” Veronica said, leaning forward a little, “you wanna hear about how they fucked in the _Blackbox_ and a library _study room_.”

Toni’s jaw dropped, along with everyone else’s, and she looked at Cheryl in surprise. “You told her about that?”

Cheryl blushed. “In _confidence_ , Ronnie.”

“You don’t have sex in public places when you want things to stay in confidence,” Peaches said with a snicker.

“I’m never going to think of the Blackbox the same again,” Kevin said, looking slightly disturbed.

“Wait!” Fangs exclaimed. “That’s because of Sweet Pea? Right? Then Cheryl must also be the person you kicked Sweet Pea out for!”

Toni’s jaw dropped. “Dude, would you shut the fuck up?”

Sweet Pea furrowed his eyebrows. “Wait, you kicked me out? I don’t remember that happening?”

Fangs snapped his mouth shut. “Oh—shit. No. She totally didn’t.”

Toni groaned, leaning against Cheryl. “This was a terrible idea.”

Cheryl laughed a little, surprising Toni, and adjusted how she was sitting a little, her arm wrapping around Toni. “It is really nice to finally meet you all,” Cheryl said to Toni’s friends, “Toni talks about you guys a lot.”

“I’m sure it’s _great_ things,” Jughead said with an eyeroll.

“It is, asshole,” Toni snapped.

“So, what are all your majors?” Veronica asked curiously.

From there, conversation continued pretty naturally, and Toni was glad that the attention was off of her and Cheryl. A few drinks into the evening, Cheryl grabbed out her phone and wordlessly began to put in an order for pizza. Toni noticed because she was still leaning into the girl, and it made her smile. Cheryl didn’t even notice that Toni noticed until the pink haired girl pointed silently to the toppings she wanted, and Cheryl’s cheeks reddened a little.

When pizza was delivered, Cheryl had fully won over Toni’s friends. They all gobbled up the pizza and took another round of shots, and then the night really took off. Veronica sidled up near Sweet Pea, and Betty started asking Jughead some questions. Peaches made sure she wasn’t let out of the coupling going on, as she kept Toni, Cheryl, Kevin, and Fangs all in conversation.

When it was getting pretty late, Fangs finally decided to call it a night, and he and Kevin said goodbyes and thanked Cheryl and her roommates before heading out for the night. Peaches and Jughead made their exit soon after, although Toni definitely noticed Jughead asking Betty for her number before he left. After that, Betty, clearly not interested in fifth wheeling, said goodnight and slipped into her bedroom.

At that point, Veronica let out a breath and said, “Well, now that we’ve discussed all of this Cheryl and Toni drama, and it therefore will not interrupt _our_ night, I say we finish what we started last weekend, Sweet Pea. What do you say?”

Sweet Pea grinned and nodded, stumbling as he practically jumped up off of the couch. Veronica grabbed his hand and started pulling him toward her bedroom. That just left Toni and Cheryl sitting on the couch.

“So,” Toni said, looking to Cheryl, “that was fun.”

“Your friends are really something else,” Cheryl replied, looking amused.

“We are a very fun brand of strange,” Toni joked with a chuckle. “Betty seems sweet, and Veronica is… fun.”

Cheryl smiled. “Veronica has really embraced the party girl college stereotype. We have her parents to blame, they really pushed a lot on her in high school. We have that in common.”

Toni nodded slowly. “Well, I’m glad that we did this… how are you feeling about it?”

“I’m also glad,” Cheryl agreed. “And… I’m not usually so shy, you know. I suppose I was just… nervous, for some reason.”

“To meet my friends?” Toni wondered.

“No,” Cheryl answered, “just… getting used to this. I’m apprehensive about anything that shows that this is… becoming something serious. You know.”

“Well,” Toni whispered, scooting a little closer to Cheryl, “maybe you just need a reminder that things aren’t changing all too much…” Cheryl lifted a perfectly sculpted red eyebrow, and Toni closed the distance between them with a firm kiss. She could practically feel Cheryl’s anxieties melting away at the familiarity of it.

The kiss started with Toni in control, but then Cheryl bit down on her lip, and suddenly she was straddling Toni, completely dominating the situation. Toni grabbed Cheryl’s ass, her head tilted up as Cheryl kissed her deeply.

Toni was completely lost in Cheryl until they both heard a loud moan come from Veronica’s room, and Cheryl groaned, disconnecting her lips from Toni’s. “Let’s go to my bed,” she whispered, and Toni nodded in agreement. They hastily clambered off of the couch and Cheryl grabbed Toni’s hand, tugging her toward and into her bedroom. Toni intended to take control at that point—usually, Cheryl wanted to bottom, after all—but Cheryl wasn’t having it. After closing the door behind them, she looked at Toni with dark eyes. “Take off your clothes.”

Toni swallowed thickly, and slowly but surely shed her leather jacket, peeled off her shirt, and slipped out of her pants. Left only in her bralette and underwear, she waited for Cheryl to say or do something else.

“Get in the bed,” Cheryl instructed lowly. Toni obeyed, and as she did Cheryl began to strip off her own clothes. Toni couldn’t take her eyes off of the redhead. Cheryl didn’t stop at her outer layer either, she stripped entirely naked before getting onto the bed. She immediately climbed on top of Toni, pushing the smaller girl down into the pillows.

“Someone is feeling aggressive tonight,” Toni murmured.

Cheryl pressed down against Toni’s center with her own bare one. “You mean you don’t want me to fuck you, Topaz?”

“I didn’t say that,” Toni breathed out, her clit starting to throb in desire. “It’s been way too fucking long since you fucked me, Cheryl.”

“So stop talking,” Cheryl husked, “so I can get to it, hm?”

Toni groaned, pressing upwards against Cheryl, who was hooking her thumbs underneath the band of Toni’s bralette, tugging it upward and over Toni’s head. Toni gladly let herself slip out of it, and after Cheryl tossed it away, the girl lowered her lips to Toni’s boobs. Toni moaned, arching her back . Cheryl’s hands started to work on removing Toni’s underwear, and pretty soon they were both completely naked.

“Mm,” Toni hummed, wrapping her hands back around to Cheryl’s ass, squeezing it firmly. Cheryl kissed her way up from Toni’s boobs to her neck, and then up to her lips. “Touch me, Cheryl, please.”

Cheryl didn’t say anything, but she did slide her hand down Toni’s body, settling it in between her thighs and bringing her fingers to Toni’s center. Toni let out a sigh of relief against Cheryl’s lips, reveling in the feeling of Cheryl teasing her clit and her opening, sliding through her wetness. Her body had definitely missed this—she’d fucked Cheryl the weekend before, but it had been a week and a half since Cheryl had touched her. Maybe her body had grown more used to having sex with Cheryl on a regular basis than she’d realized.

When Cheryl finally pressed her fingers inside of Toni, the pink haired girl felt herself already getting so close. “Fuck, Cheryl,” Toni moaned, instinctively wrapping a leg around Cheryl’s, trying to get them closer together by any amount. Cheryl moved her lips back to Toni’s neck, kissing her there as her hand touched all along her body, and Toni couldn’t focus on anything other than how badly she wanted to come. She clung to Cheryl desperately, aware of the heavy breathing and borderline whimpering that was escaping her lips. “Please, Cheryl, please…”

Cheryl curled her fingers purposefully, as her teeth gently bit into Toni’s neck. It pushed Toni right over the edge, and she didn’t hold back her cry of pleasure as she came. Cheryl didn’t let up either, her fingers moving fast and steadily as Toni came, not giving her a real chance to come down. Almost instantly, Toni’s breathing was picking up even faster, and she clenched her thighs as she was hit with another orgasm within what felt like a few seconds from her first one.

Cheryl finally slowed her movements, and Toni’s breathing began to level out. “Fuck, Cheryl,” Toni breathed out. “That was…”

“Good? I know,” Cheryl said cockily. Toni chuckled, and Cheryl laid down next to her. “Would you… want to stay the night?”

Toni couldn’t help the smile that came to her face. “I’d love to. Especially since I think we’re going to be awake a little while longer…”

“Oh are we?” Cheryl breathed out, as Toni rolled on top of her.

“Mmhmm, or are you too tired, Blossom?”

“Nope.” Cheryl sounded breathless, and Toni bit back a grin as she pressed her lips against Cheryl’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!! Please feel free to leave your feedback in the comments or Tweet at me @BrittzandTana!   
> Okay, so please be prepared, I will likely not update again until next Monday. Saturday and Sunday are big moving days. Thank you all for the luck you have sent my way for this weekend, Emily (my girlfriend) and I appreciate it!  
> Once we're all moved in, I was thinking maybe I could finally do another Periscope and give y'all an apartment tour? Would anyone actually be interested?  
> In other news, I've been rewatching S1 and S2 of Riverdale, because I somehow have time for that, and I just watched Toni rescue Cheryl from the SOQM and I'm emotional. I'm having a lot of Choni emotions lately, which is good because it's been motivating me to work on my new story, but is also gonna make this weekend harder lmao. I'm gonna just wanna read and write fanfic the whole time haha. In all honesty, though, I'm super excited to move, so :)  
> Alright, enough from me! Thank you all for spending some of your day here reading this update! I will see you all next week! In the meantime, feel free to keep up with me on Twitter! Have a lovely week! <3 xx


	17. The Elevator... and Kitchen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl and Toni spend the start of their spring break together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey! I'm back! Did y'all miss me ;D  
> Moving has been a crazy adventure! We are pretty much completely settled in, save for a few more things that need to be done, including buying a couch and a dining room table and chairs. Also, our toilet is lowkey broken and it technically works but it's getting replaced tomorrow because even though it works, it sucks and who knows how long it'll keep working lmao. So that's fun.  
> So yeah! I'm thinking this weekend I will do a periscope maybe? And show anyone who's interested our new place?  
> Anyway, back to what you guys are here for! The next chapter! This one is pretty hot if I do say so myself ;) Enjoy! xx

Cheryl stirred awake, her mouth feeling a little dry from drinking the night before—she hadn’t had enough water. She groaned a little, her voice a little hoarse, before she realized that Toni’s arm was draped over her midsection. Suddenly, she didn’t care about anything else, a small smile coming to her face as she relaxed.

She almost drifted back to sleep, but then the beep of a phone—not hers—shook her fully awake again. Sighing, Cheryl gently pulled away from Toni, who was still very much asleep. She sat up and scanned the floor, seeing Toni’s phone discarded on the floor with her clothes. It was lit up with text message notifications.

Cheryl looked to Toni’s naked, sleeping body. The blanket was only pulled up as far as her lower back, so Cheryl could see the soft curve of her dark skin, and her pink and brown hair splayed all around her. She really was gorgeous.

“Toni,” Cheryl whispered, bringing her hand to Toni’s hair and gently pulling her fingers through some of it. “Toni…”

“Mm,” Toni groaned, burying her face into the pillow, “too early…”

“You’re getting a lot of messages,” Cheryl told her softly.

“I don’t care,” Toni muttered, “it’s spring break, it can’t be that important.”

Cheryl smiled, laying back down and continuing to run her fingers through Toni’s messy hair. “We should get up soon, though.”

“Why? It’s spring break,” Toni repeated, as though that answered all questions. Toni finally peeled her face off of the pillow, her eyes flickering open and meeting Cheryl’s gaze. “What, Blossom? You don’t cuddle in the morning?”

Cheryl scoffed. “What would make you think that I enjoy cuddling at all?”

“Oh come on,” Toni said with a smirk, “I know you act like a hard ass all the time, but there’s no way you hate cuddling.”

“I’m surprised you enjoy cuddling,” Cheryl said with a sniff.

Toni lifted an eyebrow. “Just because I’ve never been in a serious relationship, I’m supposed to hate cuddling? That has nothing to do with enjoying human touch.” Suddenly, Toni scooted up closer to Cheryl, burying her face into Cheryl’s neck and wrapping her arm firmly around the girl. Cheryl felt her heart melt and pick up pace simultaneously. She hoped that Toni couldn’t feel it quickening, and just kept up playing with her hair softly. “See, you love it,” Toni murmured against Cheryl’s neck.

“I’ll tolerate it,” Cheryl whispered, even though Toni was absolutely right, “but we can’t stay in bed all day.”

“Who said anything about all day?” Toni asked, her voice muffled. They laid there quietly for a moment, and then Toni whispered, “Hey, I meant to ask you last night before we passed out, but… were you okay last night? After we had sex?”

Cheryl wasn’t following. “Yes. What do you mean?”

“You said… um, those thoughts you have…”

“Oh,” Cheryl said in surprise, realizing that she hadn’t had any the night before. It was only the second time that had happened. “I didn’t have any.” Toni pressed a kiss to Cheryl’s neck, bringing a smile to the redhead’s face.

“That’s so good.”

“There was one other time where I didn’t,” Cheryl admitted, “in the Blackbox. Well, until we saw Josie when we tried to leave, but before that.”

“I knew there’d been something different about you that day,” Toni murmured, and Cheryl couldn’t tell if she was being serious, but she wouldn’t be surprised if Toni did notice something different that day. That had been before she started to get hung up on feelings… and now here she was, having embraced the feelings, and so far, everything was going okay.

Suddenly, there was a knock on Cheryl’s bedroom door. “Hey, uh—” It was Sweet Pea. “—Veronica told me to tell you guys that we’re making breakfast, so ah, if you guys want some… you should probably get up.”

Toni groaned. “Go away!” she shouted suddenly, surprising Cheryl, but getting a laugh from her as well.

“So much for pretending to be sleepy. I think that’s really our cue to get up, Topaz.”

Cheryl pulled away from Toni, who let out a sad groan that Cheryl forced herself to ignore. She started to climb out of bed, and watched as Toni curled up even more in her blankets. “No,” Toni muttered grumpily.

“Well fine, but Veronica and Betty eat a lot of food in the mornings—and I’m sure your friend does too. I can’t promise there’ll be any food left for you.”

Toni let out a huff and then finally sat up. “I’m only getting up for the food.”

Cheryl smiled and slipped into her bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror—she was a mess. She’d never taken off her makeup from the previous day, so it was smeared around a bit, and her hair was a complete mess. She didn’t even care, though, because she and Toni had had a great night, and the party beforehand had also been a lot of fun, surprisingly.

She quickly turned on her shower and stepped under a stream of warm water, washing her face and her hair as quickly as she could. When she stepped out and dried off, she twisted her wet hair up into a bun, brushed her teeth, and, fully naked, stepped back out into her bedroom.

Toni was sitting on the edge of the bed, scrolling through her phone, but she looked up as Cheryl came into the room, her eyes widening. “Damn,” she said in surprise, “you really expect me to go out there and eat breakfast _without_ fucking you first?”

Cheryl felt her cheeks grow warm, but she didn’t let the comment otherwise affect her. “Yes,” she tutted, “I just got cleaned up. You could probably do with a shower too, you know?”

Toni smirked, standing up—naked still as well—and stepping closer to Cheryl. “You know, you’re always really hot in your fancy looking, complicated outfits and shit, but you are absolutely gorgeous like this.”

“Like this?” Cheryl asked, her breath caught in her throat as her heart pounded.

“Naked,” Toni answered, coming even closer, “with your hair all wet in a messy bun and with no makeup on. It should just be… normal, but you’re just so beautiful.”

Cheryl couldn’t breathe, Toni was now mere inches from her, and their eyes were locked. Toni tilted her head up and pressed her lips against Cheryl’s softly, and Cheryl felt herself practically melt. When the kiss broke, she realized that Toni’s hands were now on her waist, and she blinked. “As much as a smooth talker as you are, Toni,” she whispered, “you cannot distract me from the fact that we need to get in there and eat breakfast.”

“I’m not smooth talking you,” Toni argued, although she pulled away and slipped into the bathroom, not closing the door behind her as she continued, “I’m being completely serious.”

Cheryl glanced at Toni with a small smile on her face, and then went over to her closet to find an outfit. Toni closed the bathroom door and started to get cleaned up, Cheryl assumed, as Cheryl got dressed. Her stomach was growling when she finished, and she heard her shower come on. Feeling too hungry to wait, and in desperate need of water as well, she left her bedroom without Toni.

“Good morning,” Betty chimed, “that’s—almost everyone. Where’s Toni?”

“Shower,” Cheryl answered. Betty was sitting at the dining table, and Veronica and Sweet Pea were both cooking breakfast. “What’s for breakfast?”

“Pancakes,” Veronica answered brightly, “and Sweet Pea here is making eggs.”

“Sounds good,” Cheryl said, joining Betty at the dining table, “thank you both.”

“They owe me,” Betty insisted, “you are so lucky your room isn’t next to hers, Cher.”

Veronica snickered. “Well, Betts, I have a feeling that Cheryl’s room was just as loud as mine was last night.”

Betty groaned. “Nowhere in this apartment is safe.”

“Are you kidding?” Sweet Pea asked suddenly. “This apartment is huge, and the walls are like ten times thicker than any place I’ve ever lived.”

“You should see the penthouse my parents live in,” Veronica said with distaste, “it’s just the two of them—and used to just be the three of us—and it was like, three times the size of this place.”

“How is the search for an apartment going, Sweet Pea?” Cheryl heard herself ask, lifting an eyebrow in curiosity.

“I’m seeing one tomorrow,” he answered, “and if it goes well, it’ll be mine very shortly after. Then don’t worry, you and Toni will have her apartment all to yourselves.” Cheryl tried not to smirk. “Speaking of, what was Fangs talking about last night? Apparently at some point I was kicked out of the apartment, but I didn’t know?”

“I don’t know,” Cheryl admitted, “well… I think I know _when_ that was, but I don’t know what happened. Toni and I… weren’t really talking much back then. She told me we couldn’t go over to her apartment, and then she told me we actually could, because you weren’t going to be there. I think it was the first or second night you’d stayed there?”

Realization came over his face. “Oh… Fangs invited me over to hang out late that night… damn. I can’t believe I had no idea that was a ploy so Toni could have sex.”

“I feel like hearing this story has only confused me more about the nature of your relationship with Toni,” Betty teased.

“To be fair,” Cheryl said, “it has changed a lot.”

Suddenly, Cheryl’s bedroom door swung open, and Toni walked out. Her pink hair was falling in wet curls, and she was dressed in some of Cheryl’s clothes, which made Cheryl feel some type of way in between her legs. The look that Toni gave her told her that that was exactly what she’d wanted. “Morning,” she greeted brightly.

“Hey Tiny,” Sweet Pea said, “I know all about how you had Fangs invite me over to play video games that one night so you could hook up with Cheryl.”

Toni shrugged. “You were bound to find out eventually. What’s for breakfast?”

Cheryl chuckled as Toni came and sat next to her at the table.

Breakfast was just about finished, so Sweet Pea and Veronica served it up onto five plates and brought them to the table. Everyone dug in, making small talk as they ate, and then the dreaded rest of the day had to begin. Even though it was Sunday, and Toni had joked about spending the whole day in Cheryl’s bedroom, she was the first one to say that she should probably head out.

Cheryl didn’t know why it upset her—she’d spent two nights in a row with Toni, and she herself had told Toni they couldn’t spend all day in bed. But she swallowed her disappointment and gave Toni a kiss goodbye before she left.

For the rest of Sunday, Cheryl found herself coming to terms with this feeling that she was now allowing herself to embrace. She missed Toni. It wasn’t just her desire for sex, no, she wanted them to talk and joke around and keep getting to know each other. She felt like she had so much more to learn, and since it was spring break, she figured this was the best time to do so.

Despite feeling a bit distracted, she tried to spend the rest of the day working on her last major project for her acting class—picking, practicing, and perfecting a famous monologue to perform for the class. The past couple of weeks, Cheryl felt like she had been pretty checked out of school, causing herself too much distraction with being upset about everything to do with Toni. Now, though, Cheryl felt like a weight had been lifted. She wasn’t sure she’d felt so light in so long.

Late Sunday evening, after Cheryl had dinner with Veronica and Betty out in the dining room, she crawled onto her bed and texted Toni.

**Messaging: TT**

**Cheryl – Hey. What were you up to today?**

**TT – Hey! I wanted to get a few school things done before the break really starts, and I called my grandpa.**

**Cheryl – That’s good. Did you decide you’re going to see him this week?**

**TT – We decided it’d just be easier if I wait and come down for a week or so after the semester ends. Plus, I think I should reach out to my uncle before I go down there. We haven’t really talked since before I moved out last summer.**

**Cheryl – That makes sense.**

**TT – What did you end up doing today?**

**Cheryl – Hung out with Ronnie and Betty some, and picked out the monologue I’m going to learn and give for my acting class.**

**TT – Ooh, what monologue???**

**Cheryl – It’s Velma Kelly from Chicago… have you seen it?**

**TT – No, but that is a musical that I’ve actually heard of!**

**Cheryl – Oh yeah, I forgot, you’ve never seen a musical ever.**

**Cheryl – Maybe we should change that.**

**TT – I told you I’ll see Urinetown!**

Cheryl bit down on her lower lip, a sudden feeling of courage coming over her. She had no idea where it had come from, but she grasped it, and quickly typed and sent a text.

**Cheryl – Well, when I was trying to decide what monologue to do, I saw that Broadway is showing Chicago all this week. I’d love to ensure that your first musical experience is something professional, as great as I think Gale will be doing Urinetown.**

**TT – You asking me out on a date, Blossom?**

**Cheryl – We said it would be a good next step, didn’t we?**

**TT – I would love to go out to see a musical with you, Cheryl. But, don’t tickets for those kinds of things sell pretty quickly? How are we even going to get seats?**

**Cheryl – Don’t worry about that, if it’s a problem, I will figure it out.**

**TT – Alright, I’ll just not question how much money you end up spending on them…**

**Cheryl – That’s how dates work, isn’t it?**

**TT – Good point haha. Well, give me a time and place, and I’ll be there.**

Cheryl went over to her desk and turned on her laptop, looking up tickets to the show for later in the week.

**Cheryl – Thursday. The show starts at 8, so I will be at your apartment in a cab at 5:30, and we will get dinner first. Sound good?**

**TT – Sounds like you really know how to romance a woman, Blossom. I can’t believe you were planning on never doing that ever again.**

**Cheryl – Ha, very funny.**

**TT – I’m serious, but yes that sounds good.**

**TT – I hope I don’t have to wait until Thursday to see you again, though.**

**Cheryl – I know, I’m very miss-able.**

**TT – Hey, I’m new to this whole missing someone on a regular basis thing, okay?**

**Cheryl – It’s been a while for me, too. Or, at least, since I’ve admitted it.**

**TT – How about brunch tomorrow? That seems like something you would like, and I’ve never had brunch before, so could be fun.**

**Cheryl – Brunch is just early lunch with breakfast-like foods and alcohol.**

**TT – Sounds like I’ll love it then!**

**Cheryl – Then I guess I’ll see you tomorrow for brunch. I assume you don’t have a place in mind?**

**TT – Unfortunately, no. BUT, if you pick the place, I will cover it.**

Cheryl would’ve argued with Toni on that, because she knew that she had more disposable income than Toni by a _lot_ , but she also knew that she shouldn’t offer to pay for everything. She’d had that problem briefly with Petra.

She blinked, her heart rate spiking for a moment as she thought about Petra and felt familiar feelings of anxiety creeping up on her. Taking a deep breath and trying to refocus her thoughts, she looked back down at her phone and started typing a response.

**Cheryl – There’s a really good place we can go near my apartment if you don’t mind coming closer to here.**

**TT – I don’t mind at all. Let’s meet at… eleven? Is that an appropriate time for brunch?**

**Cheryl – Yes, that’s perfect.**

**TT – Great :)**

Cheryl smiled to herself. She set her phone down and quickly purchased tickets for the show on Thursday—somehow she managed to get fairly good seats without having to buy through a third party. Once the seats were secured, she made a mental note to make reservations somewhere nearby, and then closed her laptop. Her gaze drifted over to her drawing of Jason, which was resting at the other end of the desk. It felt like it had been so long since the previous week, when she’d drawn it.

She picked her phone back up and texted Toni the address of her favorite brunch place.

**TT – Thanks :) I guess I’ll see you tomorrow morning.**

**Cheryl – I guess so. Goodnight, Toni.**

**TT – Night, Cheryl.**

* * *

Brunch with Toni was, surprisingly, the most different thing they had done so far—even more different than when all of their friends hung out together. Cheryl was so used to pretending like she didn’t know Toni when they were anywhere public, so as she walked into the restaurant, looking around for Toni, her instincts were telling her to duck out. Of course, she was fighting that instinct. She wondered how long it would take for her to not feel that slight sense of panic.

She saw Toni sitting in a small booth by a window, and somehow, she felt herself calm down as her eyes landed on the pink haired girl. Gathering up her confidence, she strutted over to the table. “You must’ve been early,” she said, as Toni noticed her walking over.

“Yeah, well I was trying to beat you here, and you happen to always get places at like, the exact right time,” Toni teased. Cheryl smirked, sliding into the other side of the booth. “So, tell me how to do this brunch thing right.”

Cheryl found Toni’s excitement to have brunch for the first time very endearing, and she all but forgot about the panicky feeling. They ordered mimosas and fancy breakfasts, and Cheryl was strangely comfortable talking to Toni out in the open.

When they finished eating and Toni paid the check, they walked out of the restaurant together. “Thank you,” Cheryl said, looking a Toni with a small smile, “for brunch.”

“Of course,” Toni answered, “it was a great first brunch experience.”

Cheryl smiled. “I’m glad.”

“So, did you—”

“Cheryl!” Cheryl blinked as she heard someone call her name, and she turned around to see Margaret, Sage, Beth, and _Josie_ walking toward her and Toni. “Wow, guess we had the same lunch plans!”

Cheryl cleared her throat, hoping she wasn’t coming off as awkward as she suddenly felt. “We just finished brunch,” she said, gesturing to Toni.

“Who’s this?” Sage asked, and Cheryl could practically feel her jealousy. It took all of her energy to not roll her eyes.

“Toni Topaz,” Toni chimed brightly, but with a slight bite, and Cheryl wondered if she somehow recognized Sage, even though she had only heard her voice before. Toni extended a hand to Sage, who shook it halfheartedly. “And you all are?”

“Sage,” Sage answered firmly. “And this is Margaret, Beth, and Josie.”

Toni glanced at Josie, and Cheryl knew that she already must have recognized her. “Nice to meet you guys,” Toni said with a thin smile, and Cheryl felt the tension suddenly.

“So, you didn’t go home for the break, Cheryl?” Beth asked with a polite smile.

“Uh, no,” Cheryl answered, trying not to laugh. These girls really didn’t know her at all—aside from Josie, of course, who was being very silent and stoic.

“Parent troubles, hm?” Sage asked. “Yeah, as a lesbian, I can relate.” Sage’s gaze bounced to Toni, who lifted an eyebrow in an almost defensive way, and Cheryl was sure that the tension was palpable to everyone, not just her.

“Well,” Josie said suddenly, drawing a narrow gaze from Cheryl, “we should probably go in, so we don’t miss our reservation.”

“Yeah,” Margaret agreed, “yeah. It was nice to see you Cheryl! And hey, I’m having a party on Friday for musical people who are here for the break! You should totally come! I’ll send you details, mkay?”

Cheryl gave a polite nod, although she had a good feeling that she would not be going to that party. “See you later, Cheryl,” Sage said with a wink, and Cheryl, once again, could hardly keep from rolling her eyes.

The group started to walk past Cheryl and Toni to head into the restaurant and as Sage walked past Toni, the pink haired girl gently touched the girl’s arm and said, “You might wanna order an ice water when you get in there. Might be the best thing you can do till you can take a cold shower.” Cheryl’s jaw almost dropped, and her eyebrows shot up.

Sage scoffed. “Bitch.”

Toni just smirked as Sage followed the group into the restaurant. “Jealous much?” Cheryl asked, trying to seem less surprised as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Sorry,” Toni apologized immediately, “I didn’t even think—she was just being so obnoxious.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t like it,” Cheryl murmured lowly. Her thoughts were on a couple weeks ago, at the club in the bathroom when Toni was fucking her in the stall, and Sage was talking about her to Margaret and Beth.

Toni bit down on her lower lip, and took a small step closer to Cheryl. “Before they showed up, I was going to ask if you wanted to hang out some more, and now I’m getting the feeling that I know the answer.”

“It’s only a five minute walk to my apartment,” Cheryl informed Toni, turning on her heel. She started walking in the direction of her apartment, and she could practically feel Toni’s gaze on her ass. “Are you coming or not?”

About five minutes later found Toni pushing Cheryl up against the wall of the elevator as the doors slid closed, her hands on her waist underneath Cheryl’s waistband and her lips attached to Cheryl’s. The elevator didn’t move, and Cheryl let out a little grunt.

“The button, Toni,” Cheryl managed to murmur into the kiss.

Toni let out a huff as she pulled away and turned to jam her finger onto the right button. The elevator jerked to life and started to go up, and Toni turned back and pressed Cheryl up into the wall, getting a gasp out of her. In a swift movement, Toni unbuttoned Cheryl’s pants, slipped her hand into her panties, and delved her fingers inside of Cheryl, who let out an involuntary cry in surprise, as she practically saw stars.

“Fuck, Toni,” she whimpered. Cheryl leaned her head back onto the wall of the elevator, barely registering the ding that it made as they passed every floor before hers, Toni’s fingers inside of her occupying all of her thoughts. When the doors slid open, Cheryl held her breath as Toni’s fingers stilled.

Toni carefully exited Cheryl and took a few steps back so she was standing in between the doors, keeping them from closing. “Well?” she asked, and Cheryl, out of breath, didn’t even bother buttoning her pants before she took a few steps forward. Her center was throbbing desperately on the walk to her door, and she quickly fumbled in her purse, looking for her keys.

As soon as they were inside, Toni brought their lips back together, and Cheryl moaned deeply as Toni pressed her thigh between her legs. “Toni,” she pleaded, her ass pressing against the kitchen counter. Toni’s lips moved to her neck, causing Cheryl to whimper again, tilting her head back.

Suddenly there was the sound of a bedroom door closing, followed by a, “Uh—whoa,” from Veronica, and Toni and Cheryl pulled apart instantly, Cheryl’s breath still really fast. She realized she probably had her own lipstick smeared on her neck from Toni kissing there. “It’s barely even past noon, you two! You’re already fucking in our kitchen?”

“We’re going to her room,” Toni assured Veronica with a charming smile, “although, you may wanna vacate the premises anyway. Cheryl can be a little—”

Cheryl swatted at Toni for implying that she was loud—even if it was true. “Don’t worry,” Veronica said with a laugh, “I’m headed out. You two have _fun_. And don’t worry—Betty isn’t here.”

“Great,” Toni chimed, grabbing Cheryl’s hand and suddenly pulling her toward her own bedroom.

“Bye Ronnie,” Cheryl mumbled embarrassedly, and Veronica laughed a little as she gave her a wave. Veronica left the apartment before Cheryl and Toni had reached the bedroom, and then Toni froze outside of the door. “What?”

“If no one’s here… what’s stopping us from finishing things in the kitchen?” she asked mischievously.

“Uh, what’s wrong with bed?” Cheryl asked.

Toni lifted an eyebrow, releasing Cheryl’s hand and coming closer to loop her fingers in Cheryl’s beltloops. “Nothing,” Toni admitted, “just… I want to fuck you in your big fancy kitchen.”

Cheryl let out a breath, and it came out uneven. She suddenly became aware again of her center throbbing. “Okay.”

They fumbled their way back into the kitchen, and Toni pressed Cheryl against the fridge, her hand sliding into her underwear and her fingers dancing over her clit. “You’re so fucking hot,” Toni whispered hotly into her ear, causing Cheryl to shiver and moan as she felt Toni’s fingers teasing her, “and it’s really hot that you like me acting jealous.”

“It’s just—” Cheryl gasped, hardly able to talk as Toni teased her.

“It’s just what?” Toni demanded.

“J-just,” Cheryl barely managed to say, “nice to be—wanted.”

“Trust me, Cheryl,” Toni whispered against her ear, “I want you so bad.”

Cheryl let out a whine, her hips pressing her core forward, desperate for more contact with Toni’s hand. “I need you, Toni,” Cheryl murmured, “I need you to fuck me, please.” Toni let out a little moan, surprising Cheryl for a moment before the thought was gone thanks to Toni abruptly pressing against her clit. Suddenly everything was happening quickly, Toni’s fingers pulsing inside of her, her thumb on Cheryl’s clit. She felt Toni’s tongue and lips against her neck, and her other hand around on her ass. “Fuck, Toni, p-please don’t s-stop, _fuck_!” She hit her orgasm all of the sudden, crying out as she clung to Toni. Toni didn’t let up her movements, and Cheryl couldn’t even come down before she came again.

Then, Toni did slow down, and Cheryl started to recover her breath. Her mind was blank—not a single bad thought tried to ruin the moment for her. “You’re so fucking hot,” Toni whispered, and Cheryl couldn’t help but smile.

They migrated into Cheryl’s bedroom, and since it was the middle of the day, they decided to put off any more sex until later in the day. Cheryl slipped into her bathroom to pee, and then started to clean off her lipstick covered neck when she suddenly noticed a little red spot that would not wipe off. Her jaw dropped, and she stormed out of the bathroom. “Toni!” she exclaimed. “You gave me a hickey!”

Toni looked at her innocently from her bed. “Oops?”

Cheryl crossed her arms over her chest. “You know I don’t like those.”

“You said you liked me acting jealous,” Toni said indignantly, “well—that’s what I do when I’m acting jealous.”

Cheryl leaned against the bathroom door frame. “What do you even have to be jealous over? I’m not remotely interested in Sage.”

“I know,” Toni said, resting back against the headboard. “I’m not really jealous. Just… possessive maybe? Which, I know, is totally like, not appropriate. And it’s not like I always feel that way, I just remembered that time at the club when we heard her talking about you and, I don’t know, it made me feel some type of way.”

Cheryl let out a breath. She probably should feel uncomfortable with Toni feeling possessive over her, considering that they weren’t even official, but they were obviously exclusive, even if it was unspoken. She wasn’t quite ready to give anything a label, but that didn’t mean that Cheryl was still pretending this wasn’t serious. “It’s not inappropriate,” Cheryl assured Toni, “I’m sure I would feel the same way if the roles were reversed.”

Toni quirked up an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”

“Mmhmm,” Cheryl confirmed, thinking back to when they were fighting, and Toni let that stranger grind up against her in the club. “The point is, though, that Sage means next to nothing to me, so jealous or possessive or whatever… it’s not really necessary.”

“Makes for good sex though,” Toni teased. Cheryl smirked. “Can we take a nap? Brunch made me tired.”

“If it was just after brunch, I would say no, but since you just made me come twice in a row, I guess I’m probably tired enough for a nap,” Cheryl agreed, only slightly reluctant. Admittedly, she did like cuddling and sleeping next to Toni. “Not a long one, though. We should actually do productive things today.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.”

So they turned out the lights and got into comfier clothes before crawling into Cheryl’s bed, curling up close together for an afternoon nap. Cheryl wasn’t sure she’d ever fallen asleep so easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing wrong with a little bit of jealous Toni, hm?  
> Now that moving is pretty much done with, I will be back to writing a lot during my free time, and I'm gonna try and finish writing the new story I'm working on before the semester starts. That gives me like 20-ish days. Fingers crossed that I can do it ahah.  
> Thank you all for being patient with me the past week, I know it sucks not having updates, but I appreciate you all understanding <3 I hope this chapter was well worth the wait! There's more to come <3 I hope you all have a lovely week, I'll see you guys again with another update in the next couple of days, in the meantime, follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana and chat with me c:


	18. Toni's Bed... again and again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl takes Toni out to see Chicago! on Broadway!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey lovelies! I'll be quick in this note so y'all can get to reading, but hey hey! In about 45 minute - I'm thinking about 11:30am CST - I'm going to do a Periscope and show anyone who's interested my new apartment! I'm sure I'll also talk about Choni and I might give hints about my next story?? Feel free to join by following me on Twitter and Periscope @BrittzandTana! If you're logged into a Twitter account, then you can chat with me in the Periscope comments!
> 
> Anyway! Enjoy this fluffy chapter!

Toni Topaz was not used to feeling so clingy. She wasn’t the kind of person who liked being around the same person all of the time, which was why she hadn’t wanted to room with any of her friends for college, even if it would have been a lot cheaper.

But on Wednesday during spring break, Toni spent quite a while tutoring high school students online, something she hadn’t been doing much lately, and her bank account was noticing after buying brunch on Monday. The whole time she was working, she found her thoughts shifting to fiery red hair, plump red lips, soft pale skin…

When she finally finished working for the day, she left her room with the intention of calling Cheryl, but was immediately distracted when she saw Sweet Pea sitting on the couch, stuffing clothes into a suitcase that had previously been shoved in Toni’s spare closet in the living room. “Going somewhere?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

He looked at her with a proud smile as he said, “I just signed a lease this morning.”

“What?” she asked in surprise. “Dude, congrats! How come you didn’t tell me you found a place?”

“I didn’t want to jinx it,” he admitted with a chuckle, “but it’s the place I looked at Monday. It was great and I signed the lease this morning and now it’s mine.”

“So what are you gonna do about furniture?” Toni asked with a chuckle.

He shrugged. “I think I’ll go find a sleeping bag for the first week or so and live out of my suitcase until I can make back the deposit and buy some cheap used furniture.”

“Okay,” she said with a smile. “You want help bringing all your shit there? Where is it?”

“It’s pretty close to here actually,” Sweet Pea told her, “so yeah you can come with and pull my suitcase if you want.”

A little bit later found the two of them outside, carrying all of Sweet Pea’s stuff and making an almost ten minute walk to another apartment building. Sweet Pea’s apartment was on the first floor, and they had to navigate through a series of hallways to get to it, and then he unlocked it proudly and revealed basically a shoebox with a bathroom. Still, it was a plenty big enough for him, and it had a full kitchen, even if it was tiny.

“Studio, huh?”

“Yeah, not like I need anything bigger,” he said with a shrug. “Everything is pretty old, too, but it’s not a big deal. As long as I can sleep and eat and shit here, I’m happy.”

Toni chuckled. “Hey, for what it’s worth, I am gonna miss having your around.”

“I know, but I also know you won’t miss me enough that you’ll actually be upset,” he joked. “I know there are reasons you’d like to have your own space back.”

Toni smirked, leaning against the door of Sweet Pea’s apartment as he set down all of his bags at the far end of the room. “Well, I’m glad you’ve got your own space now.”

“Same,” he said with a grin. “Can’t wait to get my consoles set up—once I have a TV, of course.”

Toni chuckled. Her phone buzzed suddenly, and she grabbed it instinctively.

**Messaging: Cheryl**

**Cheryl – Did you finish your work?**

**Toni – Why, you miss me?**

**Cheryl – What gave you that idea?**

**Toni – Haha. I did finish, but then I found out that Sweets signed a lease this morning! I helped him walk his stuff over, so I’m at his place right now.**

**Cheryl – Oh wow! I’m glad he got a place, that’s great.**

**Toni – I know! It’s a shoebox, but he doesn’t need much space haha.**

**Cheryl – So… should we celebrate?**

**Toni – He’s probably too broke for a real celebration lol.**

**Cheryl – No, Toni, I meant you and me, celebrating him being out of your apartment…**

**Toni – Hmm, I don’t know, I’ll have to check my calendar…**

**Cheryl – Great, so I’ll be over in 45 minutes. Be back by then.**

**Toni – So bossy. Are you at least going to bring me food?**

She didn’t get a text back immediately, and she smirked a little as she rolled her eyes and pocketed her phone. “You back in this room?” Sweet Pea teased. “You can leave and go see Cheryl, Tiny.”

“She’s gonna come over in forty five minutes,” she told him with a shrug.

“When are you guys finally going to make things official?” he asked. “I know you’ve only been doing this actual dating thing for a few days, but it’s obvious that you guys are obsessed with each other. And I know that you’re basically in love with her already.”

Toni’s face flushed. “I’m not in love with her yet.”

“Okay, but you were asking all those questions about love and shit,” he reminded her.

“Which was all hypothetical,” she insisted, looking up at the ceiling for a second. “How do you even know if you’re in love anyway? Like, I’ve never been in love before, so how do I know if I am?”

He shrugged. “I’m not really the guy to be giving testimonials about love, considering I have none. But… I would think that you would just look at the person and _want_ to say it, and then that must mean that you feel it… right?”

“You’re such a sap, Sweets.”

“Shut up,” he snapped at her, to which Toni responded with a chuckle.

Sighing, Toni’s thoughts refocused. “I mean… I can totally see myself falling in love with her… but I don’t think I’m there yet. You know? I don’t think I could until I’m like… _sure_ that she won’t back out of this.”

“You still think she might?”

“I mean… not really, but… it’s going to be a process for us—mostly her—to get used to us being _publicly_ interested in each other. We went to brunch on Monday, and afterward we ran into some of her musical friends, and this girl she used to be friends with but they aren’t close anymore. It was kind of awkward, and they could tell we’d been out like, on a date. I just need to know that she’s not going to get freaked out by those kinds of things and want to back out all of the sudden, you know?”

Sweet Pea nodded. “Makes sense. For what it’s worth, the way she looks at you… it seems like she’s really serious. And last week when she came to the apartment asking to see you, she was clearly desperate to talk to you.”

“Yeah, that wasn’t something she would do lightly,” Toni agreed. “I definitely think it could really go somewhere, I mean that’s why I tried so hard to get past the just sex phase.”

“Well, I’m rooting for you,” he told her with a toothy grin. “Anyway, you should just head out and get ready to see your girl. I’m gonna go out to the grocery store and buy a few essentials.”

Toni nodded. “Alright. Let me know if you need anything, okay?”

“Course! See you, Tiny.”

“Bye Sweets.”

On her walk back to her apartment, she finally got a text back from Cheryl.

**Messaging: Cheryl**

**Cheryl – Going by my favorite sandwich place. What do you like?**

**Toni – Anything with meat and cheese will make me happy!**

**Cheryl – Only meat and cheese?**

**Toni – No, I mean, like anything. What I’m trying to say is that I literally don’t care as long as it has meat and cheese.**

**Cheryl – I like how easy you are to buy food for.**

**Toni – That’s not the only way that I’m easy ;)**

**Cheryl – Oh I know, Topaz.**

**Cheryl – I’m leaving now to pick up the food and then I’m getting a cab to your place.**

**Toni – Great, can’t wait ;)**

It felt a lot like old times as Toni readied herself for Cheryl to come over. She made sure the place was vaguely cleaned up, and she also decided to put some lingerie on underneath her clothes. A few minutes before Cheryl would arrive, she got out her bottle of red wine and poured two full glasses, emptying the half full bottle.

Exactly forty five minutes after Cheryl’s text saying she would be there in that amount of time, there was a knock on Toni’s door. Her heart skipped a beat in excitement, something that definitely felt similar to when they used to meet up secretly. She bit down on her lip as she pulled open the door for the redhead. “Good evening,” Toni said charmingly, smiling involuntarily. Cheryl was wearing high waisted jeans and a red crop top that was basically a slightly more covering bra, as well as four inch, red high heels and her signature red lipstick. She was carrying a paper bag and her small purse. The thing most different from their secret meetings from the beginning of the semester was that back then, Cheryl would’ve looked mostly indifferent upon arrival. Now, she was wearing a smile of her own, and it made Toni’s heart skip a beat.

“It is,” Cheryl agreed as she walked in, looking ahead at the living room. “An empty living room. That’s something I haven’t seen here in a while.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Toni agreed with a laugh. “I’ll miss him a little bit, though.”

“What’s his new place like?”

“Tiny,” Toni answered. “It’s a studio with a tiny bathroom. The size of my living room and kitchen.”

“Well, at least it’s his own space.”

“You’re definitely right about that.”

“So,” Cheryl said with a quirk of her eyebrow, “are you hungry now, or would you rather wait?”

“I’m hungry, but that doesn’t mean that food is my priority…” Toni took a step forward and took the paper bag from Cheryl, going over to her fridge and setting it onto the top shelf for later. Then she turned back to Cheryl and stepped up right in front of her.

“What’s your priority?” Cheryl asked unnecessarily, in a low voice.

“My priority is to get you to find out what I’m wearing under these clothes,” Toni whispered.

Cheryl brought her hands to Toni’s waist, gripping her top. “That can be arranged,” Cheryl whispered.

Suddenly their lips were connected, and they began moving toward Toni’s bedroom. “I poured—” Toni murmured into Cheryl’s lips, “—us wine…”

“Make up your mind, Topaz, do you want me to fuck you or not?”

It was in moments like these that Toni found herself not thinking about the struggle it had been to get to this point with Cheryl, and instead just reveling in the beautiful, amazing girl. Especially in these occasional times where Cheryl was suddenly wanting to be in control, and she all but shoved Toni down into her bed after swiftly removing her clothes, revealing the lingerie.

And Toni became a mess in her own bed, as Cheryl made her wait for what she wanted, and she pleaded and pleaded before finally coming undone, and crying out in pleasure. Cheryl didn’t let up either, and Toni found herself coming multiple times in a row, and they blended together into a timeless period of euphoria. She practically blacked out at the end, and when she finally came to, Cheryl was sitting up next to her in the bed, a paper bag in her lap and two glasses of wine in her hands.

Cheryl told Toni, who was too tired to talk as she ate, about her day practicing her monologue for her class, and also expressed her excitement for seeing Chicago the following night. Toni found herself getting lost in the dark but somehow bright eyes that shone when Cheryl talked about the musical. No, she wasn’t yet fallen in love with Cheryl, but she was definitely falling.

Toni meant to climb on top of Cheryl as soon as she finished her dinner, but she was utterly spent, and instead found herself starting to drift off. She only even got up to get ready for bed when Cheryl nudged her awake.

But after they both readied themselves, they curled up in Toni’s sheets and comforter and cuddled close together, and Toni wrapped her arms around Cheryl as the big spoon. “G’night, Cher,” she murmured with the last of her energy. Cheryl chuckled a little in response.

“Goodnight, Toni.”

* * *

Toni had never seen a musical, nor had she ever been to the Broadway theater. She’d never really pictured herself doing so either, but on Thursday evening, a cab pulled up in front of Toni’s building with Cheryl inside of it, waiting to take her to dinner and then to the theater.

They went to fancy Italian place that was apparently close to Broadway, and Toni was a bit intimidated with the décor and fancy menus. She felt underdressed, even though she’d put on her nicest, deep purple dress, and wore heels that she actually hated. “I’m pretty sure this is the fanciest place that I’ve ever been,” Toni muttered, after the waitress delivered them their salads. “I can’t even remember the last time I went to a non-fancy restaurant that brought out salads first.”

Cheryl chuckled. “Well, this was always my favorite place to come when in this part of the city.”

“Did you used to come to Broadway a lot?”

“Not a lot,” Cheryl answered, “but when I was really young, my parents would occasionally bring me and Jason to see a show, and we would always come here. After he passed, my parents stopped doing fun things with me.”

“I’m sorry,” Toni apologized, but Cheryl just shrugged. They silently ate their salads for a few minutes, until regular conversation resumed. It all felt natural between them, they were learning how to balance conversation between the two of them.

After their dinner, Cheryl led Toni through the busy city sidewalks, and their hands were intertwined the whole time. Cheryl gave Toni a mini summary of the musical Chicago, and honestly, Toni wasn’t paying much attention, because she wasn’t sure Cheryl had ever talked so much to her about one thing without Toni having to respond, and she was honestly distracted by how happy it made her. She felt like Cheryl had reached a new level of comfort with Toni.

“So, you going to point out what part is your monologue when it happens?” Toni wondered, when they were seated in the house of a huge theater.

“Sure,” Cheryl agreed, smiling brightly at Toni, who felt her heart skip a beat. Cheryl’s face was a little flushed, and she said, “Um, sorry for how much I was talking on our way over here.”

“Is Cheryl Blossom apologizing for talking too much?” Toni asked in shock, before breaking out in a joking grin as Cheryl rolled her eyes. “I don’t mind listening to you talk, Cheryl. I’m glad that you feel so comfortable talking to me.”

Cheryl rolled her eyes, but her blush was still very obvious. “You don’t need to get sappy, Topaz.”

Toni smiled a little, and then the house lights suddenly dimmed, and all of the sudden, the show began. Toni glanced down at Cheryl’s hand, which was resting in between their seats. Cheryl’s eyes were already fixed ahead of them on the stage, so Toni just slid her hand up against Cheryl’s. She felt Cheryl’s hand twitch a little in surprise, and then they folded their hands together.

The musical was honestly more entertaining than Toni would’ve expected, and she didn’t know why her expectations hadn’t been that high, but she sincerely enjoyed it. Cheryl squeezed her hand and nodded at the part when Velma Kelly did her monologue during the song about killing men—or something—and Toni thought it was hilarious. Honestly, she was more than ready to hear Cheryl’s version of the monologue.

When they left that night, their hands connected, Toni was feeling very relaxed, and she knew just the way to end the night. “How about a drink on me?” she asked, with a cheeky grin. “There’s gotta be a good bar around here, right?”

They walked a few blocks to a good bar that Cheryl knew of, and they were glad to see that it wasn’t too busy—considering that it was Thursday night. Toni ordered herself a vodka soda, and Cheryl requested simply a glass of red wine, and they talked about the musical as they drank.

“So, you liked it?” Cheryl inquired.

“Yeah, it was super interesting,” Toni assured her, “and I actually liked the music, too.”

“Did you think you wouldn’t?”

Toni shrugged. “I just haven’t ever seen a musical, I didn’t know what to expect, I guess. So, I take it that song about Velma Kelly and Veronica murdering husbands isn’t part of your monologue?”

Cheryl chuckled. “No, that’s not how monologues work. It’s just the monologue part, starting with her mentioning Veronica, and ending with ‘I even knew they were dead.’”

“Well, that’s fine. I get to hear you sing in Urinetown at least, right?”

Cheryl nodded. “Suddenly you’re so interested in hearing me sing?” Toni shrugged. “You really are something else, Toni Topaz.” Toni smiled, taking another drink of her vodka soda.

“You wanna get out of here?”

Smirking, Cheryl answered with, “I thought you’d never ask.”

Later that night, Cheryl and Toni laid sprawled across Toni’s bed, completely naked and absolutely spent. Toni felt like the whole evening had been an incredible dream. “Thanks for taking me to see Chicago.”

Cheryl just smiled, rolling onto her side and looking at Toni, her fiery red hair splayed everywhere. “It’s sweet that you’re so interested in musicals all of the sudden.”

“Who said I’m interested in musicals?” Toni defended. “I’m just interested in you, Blossom, and I was pretty sure that’s not news.”

“No,” Cheryl agreed with a chuckle. “I’m going to go to the bathroom.”

“You want another drink?” Toni asked, and Cheryl nodded. As the redhead disappeared into the bathroom, Toni got up and left her room—naked—and went into the kitchen to fill two glasses of wine. When she got back into her room, Cheryl was out of the bathroom, and back on the bed, propped up on Toni’s pillows and scrolling through her phone.

“You look good naked in my bed.”

“I look good naked anywhere.”

“Touché,” Toni said with a laugh, sitting on the bed next to Cheryl as she handed over one of the glasses. Cheryl set her phone down on the bed as she sipped her wine, and Toni noticed that it was open on her text messages app, and the third message down was the thread with her, and her name was still listed as TT. “You never changed my name?”

Cheryl glanced down at her phone. “Oh. Actually, I started reading it in my head as TT and I thought it was kind of cute, so I just left it.”

“Mm,” Toni hummed, taking a drink of her wine. “Well, okay.”

“What, you don’t think TT sounds cute?”

Toni lifted an eyebrow. “Why do I get the feeling that you’ve decided on this nickname, and my opinion doesn’t matter.”

Cheryl laughed, and Toni felt her heart swell. She would do anything to hear that laugh over and over again. “Your opinion matters, but it’s not like it’s some weird nickname. It’s just your initials.”

“Good point. Well, I need to think of a nickname for you, then.”

Cheryl quirked up an eyebrow. “Have at it, _TT_.”

Toni thought hard for a moment, taking another drink of her wine to fuel her brain, and then it hit her. “ _Bombshell_. Cheryl Bombshell.”

“It is fitting,” Cheryl agreed with a smirk.

“And don’t you know it,” Toni teased.

Cheryl’s lips spread into a wider smirk. “Something tells me that you like a girl who knows she’s hot, TT.”

“Well obviously,” Toni agreed, “I like you, don’t I? Now finish your wine so I can show you just how much.”

Cheryl raised her brow. “You’re not tired yet?”

“I was… and then you had to start being so fucking cocky.”

“So what, you’re going to put me in my place?” Cheryl demanded.

“I bet you’d like that, wouldn’t you, Bombshell?”

Cheryl bit down on her lower lip—which had been covered neatly in red lipstick earlier. Now, it was smeared and a mess, but Toni knew it must be smeared all over her too, and neither of them cared. “I guess you could find out.”

Toni decided to take matters into her own hands, and she grabbed Cheryl’s wine glass out of her hand and set both glasses on her nightstand. Cheryl’s eyes were trained on her as she also moved the girl’s phone off of the bed, and straddled her lap. “I think I will then.”

“Do it,” Cheryl dared her, and Toni noticed the faster pace that her chest was rising and falling all of the sudden. Yeah, their night wasn’t even near over yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Truth is, the only musicals I have seen are ones put on by my schools (high school and college). I've never seen Chicago, but I have heard the Cell Block Tango thanks to Glee lmao. I thought it could be fun to include haha.  
> Anyway, come join me on Periscope soon! Thank you all for coming and reading this update, I'm sorry I didn't reply to comments but I wanted to get this out asap! Come talk to me on Periscope and let me make it up to you! xx


	19. Between Her Thighs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl is being plagued with questions about labels on her relationship with Toni, and it finally comes up in conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good evening friends! I just reread and proofed this chapter, and I totally forgot how much I loved writing it. It's a big one, length wise and content wise! I hope you guys will love it <3
> 
> Enjoy! xx

“Would you just let me run through it a couple more times?” Veronica asked Cheryl and Betty, who were lounging on the couch in their apartment. It was Sunday, in the late afternoon, and Veronica was sort of freaking out about her monologue. She and Cheryl were both performing their monologues in class on Tuesday, but Veronica had a busy day on Monday and wouldn’t be able to practice much.

“Of course,” Betty answered, as Cheryl groaned. “Cher! We listened to you run through yours!”

“I know, I know,” she muttered, “okay, go ahead, V.”

Veronica smiled widely, and started to run through it again. Cheryl didn’t know why she was so worried—she had it completely memorized and she was great at it, despite not being a fine arts major. Cheryl already knew that they would both do fine on Tuesday, and she was getting impatient, because she was supposed to call Toni when she was done for the day. They weren’t sure if they would get to see each other tonight, because Toni had some things she needed to do today—like help Sweet Pea with some furniture shopping or something—but they would at least have the phone call.

Cheryl zoned out while Veronica was practicing, thinking about Toni. She couldn’t help it—she was finding herself more and more smitten by the pink haired girl who had come into her life and made her question everything.

“Cheryl, are you even paying attention?” Betty asked, and Cheryl blinked, realizing that Veronica had finished and was waiting for feedback.

“Um… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Veronica insisted, “I know I’m probably overpreparing, and I know that _you_ have got your mind set on _your girl_.”

Cheryl felt her cheeks warm up slightly, but she just rolled her eyes. “I’m just distracted. Do it again.”

“No, I feel pretty good about it,” Veronica insisted, sitting down next to Cheryl on the couch. “Plus, I just decided that want a Toni update!”

“There’s not anything to update,” Cheryl insisted. “I already told you about Thursday.”

“I think Veronica wants to know why you two haven’t said the g-word yet,” Betty informed Cheryl.

“The g-word?” Cheryl asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“You know,” Veronica said with a grin, “GF. Girlfriend.”

Cheryl felt her heart skip a beat—anxiety flaring up all of the sudden. “Oh. I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it.”

“Why do you look so surprised that I brought it up?” Veronica asked. “You really haven’t even thought about the fact that that’s basically the next step in your relationship with her?”

“I mean…” Cheryl sighed. “Of course I know that’s the next logical step, but maybe I’m just… not interested in labeling anything.”

“Really?” Betty asked.

“Yeah, you really don’t want to slap a label on Toni to make sure everyone knows she’s yours?” Veronica asked. “That’s always my favorite part about being in a new relationship—making sure everyone knows that he’s _mine_.”

Betty rolled her eyes at Veronica. “Or, you know, just making it clear that you are exclusive, and not dating other people.”

“Well, I know that Toni isn’t dating other people,” Cheryl insisted, “and trust me, she knows that I’m not either.”

“Oh come on, Cher!” Veronica exclaimed. “You are so into this girl! Stake your territory!”

Cheryl let out a breath. “I’m just not worried about it, okay?”

Veronica shrugged. “Alright, suit yourself. I bet you and Toni would have some great sex after that talk, though.”

Betty scrunched her nose in distaste. “Why did you have to give me that image?”

“Oh come on, B,” Veronica teased, “you don’t like the image of Cheryl and Toni having sex?”

“No, not really.”

“I bet Toni is the top,” Veronica said with a grin, and Cheryl knew that her face turned bright red. “Oh my god, basically confirmed by your blush.”

“It sounds like you think about mine and Toni’s sex life too much, Ronnie.”

“Uh, yeah, because now every time we walk past the Blackbox I just remember that you two _did it_ in there, and on the theater stage! I’m scared of going into any of the library study rooms now, too!”

Cheryl couldn’t help herself as she said, “Then I guess I shouldn’t tell you about our kitchen…”

“Cheryl!” Betty exclaimed. Cheryl just snickered as she stood up.

“Well, this has been fun, ladies. I’m going to call Toni now,” she said with a little wave.

“And when you get off the phone, you’re going to clean the entire kitchen!” Betty exclaimed.

Cheryl just laughed as she walked into her bedroom, closing the door behind her and grabbing her phone. She didn’t text Toni to make sure she was free, just calling right away instead.

“Hey, Bombshell,” Toni greeted, picking up almost immediately.

“Hey,” Cheryl said back with a smile. “Betty and Veronica found out about how we had sex in the kitchen, and Betty is very upset.”

Toni laughed brightly. “I hope I didn’t get banned from your apartment?”

“Betty does not have the authority to ban anyone from this apartment,” Cheryl insisted with a sniff. “How was furniture shopping with Sweet Pea?”

“Good,” Toni answered, “actually, my friends want me to go out to a bar with them since I didn’t get to see them much over the break.”

“Okay,” Cheryl said, a little bummed that she wouldn’t get to hang out with Toni tonight, but knowing that she did take up a decent amount of Toni’s time, especially since Thursday. They’d spent most of Friday lazing around Toni’s apartment, and they ordered delivery food and drank wine pretty much all day. Saturday they’d gone out, but they’d spent pretty much the whole day with each other. “Are you guys going now? We don’t have to talk right now.”

“No,” Toni answered, “we stopped at Fangs’ place to meet up with Peaches and Kevin, because they weren’t with us at Sweets’ place. So I’m just chilling on Fangs’ couch right now. And I think we’re gonna order pizza.”

“Sounds fun,” Cheryl said, smiling. “Veronica and I rehearsed our monologues.”

“Oh yeah, how was that?”

“I’m not worried about it,” Cheryl insisted, “and Veronica’s is really good, so.”

“Good,” Toni said. “Hey, I was thinking… I know we have class tomorrow, but I could totally stop by your place tonight. I think Jug will make sure we’re all not out super late anyway, he’s always the responsible one. And I can just stop by for a little bit if you’d rather me not stay over.”

“If you’re going to make the trip here, you may as well stay over…”

“Well, I can definitely do that,” Toni insisted. “I’ll probably be a little drunk.”

“Good,” Cheryl said, “you’ve seen me wasted, but I’ve never gotten to see you super drunk.”

Toni laughed. “Well, you better get ready for it, babe.”

Cheryl bit down on her lip hearing the endearment. “As long as you don’t puke all over my bed, I think I’ll be ready for it.”

“Got it, no puke,” Toni said with a laugh. “Oh hey, Peaches just got here, I think we’re gonna order pizza now. I’ll see you tonight?”

“Yeah,” Cheryl agreed with a smile, “have fun.”

“Tell Betty I’m not sorry for fucking you in your kitchen!”

Cheryl snickered. “Bye, Topaz.”

“See you, Blossom.”

Cheryl hung up the phone and let out a quiet sigh, before making her way back into her living room. To her surprise, both of her friends were still lounging on the couches.

“Short conversation?” Veronica asked curiously.

“She’s going out with her friends,” Cheryl answered.

“You did spend a lot of time with her the past few days,” Betty reasoned, “apparently fucking in our kitchen.”

“No, that was before Thursday. I think maybe Monday?”

“God, Cheryl.”

Cheryl settled back onto the couch as Veronica turned on the TV. Betty excused herself a little bit later, claiming she had a little bit of last-minute homework to finish before tomorrow, leaving Veronica and Cheryl sitting there, watching some cooking show that Veronica had turned on. Cheryl thought about her conversation with Toni, and then glanced at Veronica.

“Ronnie?”

“Yeah?”

“Would you say that the term ‘babe’ is something you would call someone who isn’t officially your significant other?” Cheryl asked.

“Toni called you babe for the first time?” Veronica asked in surprise. “Really? You guys don’t already call each other that? What do you call each other?”

“Uh, our names? Sometimes our last names.”

“You don’t have any nicknames?” Veronica asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“A couple. But we haven’t said anything like _babe_ ,” Cheryl answered, “and just… I don’t know, maybe I’m overthinking it because of what we just talked about.”

“Aw, Cher,” Veronica cooed, “it’s so weird seeing you so nervous about a girl.”

“I’m not nervous,” Cheryl said with a scoff.

“Whatever you say, girl,” Veronica teased. “You should just talk to Toni about it.”

Cheryl turned her attention to the cooking show. “Can we watch something else?”

* * *

That night, Toni came over a little after eleven, and to Cheryl’s surprise, they didn’t end up having sex. She’d been prepared if they did—lingerie and all—but Toni had been pretty drunk, and they were both tired, so they simply got ready for bed and fell into bed together, falling asleep in a matter of moments.

Cheryl didn’t mind, though. She may not admit it easily, but she did enjoy curling up with Toni in bed and falling asleep. Part of her couldn’t believe that she had gone so long without sleeping next to Toni when she’d had the option to do so all along.

Monday morning, though, spring break was officially over, and so was the honeymoon period of whatever this relationship between them was. Cheryl woke up early in the morning and got up before Toni, making them breakfast before waking the other girl up. After their breakfast, they both had places to be, and Toni dressed and rushed out quickly to head to campus, and Cheryl took a little longer to get ready and go.

It was weird, trying to adjust to this new normal. She didn’t see Toni at all again on Monday, which made it easier, but on Tuesday, when she and Veronica were heading to their acting class, they passed Toni, and Cheryl didn’t know whether to stop and say something, or just wave, or what. Thankfully, Veronica made it pretty easy, stopping them and Toni and greeting her brightly. Then Cheryl and Toni made plans to see each other later, Toni wished them both luck on their monologues—requesting that Veronica record Cheryl’s if possible, so she could see it later—and they were off again.

Cheryl’s monologue went really well, and Veronica did record it for Toni’s sake.

Later that night, Cheryl and Toni met up at Toni’s apartment, not unusual for a Tuesday night, and Cheryl showed Toni the video.

In the video, Cheryl stood up in front of her class confidently, a smirk on her face and her eyebrow quirked as she started. “My sister Veronica and I had this double act, and my husband Charlie traveled around with us. Now, for the last number in our act, we did these twenty acrobatic tricks in a row. One, two, three, four, five, splits, spread-eagles, back-flips, flip-flops—one right after the other. So, this _one_ night before the show, we’re at the hotel Cicero, the three of us boozin’, having a few laughs, and we run outa ice! So, _I_ run out to get some. I come back, open the door, and there’s _Veronica_ and Charlie, doin’ number seventeen, the _spread-eagle_. Well, I was in _such_ a state of shock that I completely blacked out! I can’t remember a thing. It wasn’t until later, when I was washing the _blood_ off my hands, I even knew they were dead…”

At the end of the video, applause broke out in the classroom, and it the recording stopped with Cheryl confidently walking back toward her seat. “Damn,” Toni said, looking up at the redhead, “that was hot.”

Cheryl smirked. “Picturing me as Velma Kelly, murdering her sister and husband? That’s hot?”

“Um, yes?” Toni asked back. “You can keep questioning me, or I can throw you in my bed and prove to you how hot I thought it was.”

Cheryl was definitely enjoying the relationship she had with Toni. It was significantly more enjoyable than what they used to have, with no strings and the rules, but it was somewhat difficult for Cheryl to navigate. Her only experience with a real relationship had left her feeling rather insecure about relationships, and she didn’t really know how often it was okay to want to see Toni, or how much space was too much space.

They didn’t see each other on Wednesday, except for in the morning, and on Thursday they didn’t see each other until Cheryl’s evening musical practice ended. They spent the night at Cheryl’s on Thursday, and Friday morning, they had a little bit of time to sleep in and then make breakfast together. It was surprisingly domestic, considering that it had only been two weeks since they started this relationship.

Toni went home after breakfast, needing to work on some things, and later, Cheryl had to go to musical rehearsal anyway.

Cheryl had thankfully not had rehearsal with Josie all week, but she had a feeling that today was going to be different, because starting Friday, things were getting much more intense for the musical. All of the components had to come together, and they were doing full run-throughs.

She wasn’t wrong, and when she got to the theater, she saw Josie, Beth, and Sage all talking backstage. It was a few minutes before they were supposed to start the rehearsal. “Hey, Cheryl!” Beth called, and Cheryl reluctantly made her way over to the girls. “Haven’t gotten to see you all week! How’ve you been?”

“Good,” Cheryl responded, “yeah I had pretty short call times yesterday and Wednesday.”

“Well,” Sage said, “I guess we’ll all be seeing each other pretty much every weekday night for the next few weeks, huh? And soon on Saturdays, too, for performances.”

“Guess so,” Cheryl agreed. It was awkwardly quiet for a moment, so Cheryl cleared her throat and asked, “How was all of your breaks?”

“Not long enough,” Sage answered. “Josie got _laid_ during hers though!”

Josie laughed a little, looking down for a second and then up at Cheryl, meeting her gaze. Surprisingly, Cheryl saw something in her eyes that resembled… guilt? She couldn’t exactly tell. “Thanks for broadcasting that, Sage,” Josie said with a shake of her head. “Anyway, it was probably a one-time thing.”

Cheryl almost scoffed, but she managed to hold it in, and she was actually proud of herself. She even felt less angry as the memory of her _one-time thing_ with Josie came to mind. It was nice to not feel so angry. “Good for you,” Cheryl heard herself say. Josie blinked in surprise, but before anyone could say anything, Professor Stone was calling places.

Rehearsal was long. It started at one and lasted until seven—eight for some people who Professor Stone asked to stay late. Thankfully, that wasn’t Cheryl, and it also wasn’t any of the people she usually hung out with. They all filtered back into the Blackbox, and as someone walked out of the Blackbox and into the hallway, the door suddenly stayed open, and Cheryl saw Toni’s face peer into the room. Cheryl felt her heart skip a beat.

“Hey, Cheryl,” Margaret said, drawing Cheryl’s attention away from Toni. “I’m inviting the girls and Tyler and some of the other guys over to my place to hang out tonight. You should come!” Cheryl opened her mouth to respond, and her gaze went back over to Toni, who was still holding the door open, but with her attention on her phone. Margaret followed her gaze. “Bring her!”

Cheryl looked back at Margaret in surprise, and found that now, Sage, Beth, and Josie were all looking at her as well. “Um, I don’t know…”

“You both should come,” Josie said suddenly, smiling. “We all deserve some time to hang out and party and also _bond_ before we’re rehearsing and performing together _every_ night.” Cheryl blinked, surprised at Josie’s enthusiasm. She then looked at Sage, knowing that she would be the other problem.

“Definitely,” Sage said in agreement, and it wasn’t all too convincing, but Cheryl decided it was good enough to at least ask Toni if she wanted to come.

“Let me ask her,” Cheryl said, and then she turned and headed to the door. Toni looked up at her as she approached.

“Hey,” Toni greeted brightly, “sorry to just show up… I guess I just wanted to surprise you—but also, I happened to be on campus, because Peaches wanted to meet up and work on homework together. I just stayed a little later because I knew that your rehearsal was going till seven.”

“It’s okay,” Cheryl insisted. “Um, Margaret invited me over to hang out with everyone.”

“Oh,” Toni said, “okay, well, I’ll just walk home—”

“No, you’re invited too,” Cheryl interrupted, “if you want to come. I understand if you don’t, though.”

Toni looked, understandably, surprised. “Um… who all is going to be there.”

“Both of the people you’re concerned about,” Cheryl answered, “but _both_ of them are being… surprisingly respectful today. And they both said you’re welcome to come.”

“Okay,” Toni agreed, “if you’re okay with that.”

Cheryl just nodded. “We’ll meet you out here in a minute then.” She turned around and went back into the Blackbox to get her stuff, and told Margaret, “We’ll join you guys.”

“Great! My place is super close, so we were just gonna walk. You’re free to walk with us.”

“Okay,” Cheryl agreed with a nod.

As she grabbed her things, Josie suddenly appeared next to her. “Hey, can I talk to you really quick, Cheryl?”

Cheryl nodded, steeling herself a little as she stood up straight, pulling her bag over her shoulder. “Go ahead.”

“Look… I’m sorry,” she apologized. “These past few weeks, ever since we had it out at each other, I’ve been thinking about what you said… and realized that I do owe you a real apology. Especially… well, because like Sage said, I hooked up with this guy over the break, and then I found out that he was just in it for the sex, and I actually kind of liked him… so, I realized that must be how you felt, only worse, because you were honest with me beforehand, and I completely ignored that.”

Cheryl was honestly very surprised at the apology, but she couldn’t think of any reason to not accept it—the apology was something she’d been wanting ever since it happened. And now that she was completely _over_ Josie, the apology was basically the last bit of closure she felt like she needed. “Thank you for apologizing,” Cheryl said formally.

“So… do you think we can be friends again?” Josie asked.

Cheryl took in a breath. “Let’s take it slow… but yes, of course we can.”

Josie let out a sigh of relief. “Good. Because I miss you, and B and V. And, I’m excited to meet your girlfriend, although she must hate me.”

Cheryl felt her heart skip a beat as Josie called Toni her girlfriend. “Oh, we haven’t… um, used that word yet,” she admitted.

“Oh, shit, sorry,” Josie said with a laugh.

Cheryl just smiled and continued, “But… yeah she’s not your biggest fan.”

“Well, I don’t expect to win her over, and I completely understand that you want to take rekindling our friendship slow. Really.”

“Good,” Cheryl said with a nod.

“You ladies ready to go?” Sage asked, coming up to them suddenly. “I’m ready to scope out your girlfriend, Cheryl, and figure out what she has that I don’t have.”

Cheryl didn’t even bother correcting Sage, despite the slight feeling of stress that flared up in her chest when she heard the word, because she didn’t want Sage to think that there was any chance that Cheryl would leave Toni for her, and she just rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t mess with her if I were you, Sage.”

“She’s small, I bet I could take her.”

“Doubtful,” Cheryl argued.

Margaret, Tyler, Beth, and a couple other guys who Cheryl had never bothered to get to know came up to them as well. “Let’s go!” Margaret said with a grin, and they all filed out of the Blackbox, where Toni was waiting.

“Hey,” she greeted Cheryl.

“Toni, right?” Margaret asked.

“Yeah,” Toni answered, giving her a hesitant smile. “Margaret?”

“Right,” Margaret confirmed with a wide grin. “I know you met some of us. This is Tyler, Garrett, and Hudson.”

“Nice to meet you guys,” Toni said with a nod, and Cheryl could tell she felt sort of awkward.

They all started out of the Fine Arts building, and Beth started saying something about the musical, and Josie and Margaret jumped in. Cheryl tuned into the conversation and didn’t notice when Sage fell a bit behind the group and pulled Toni aside.

“Toni,” Sage said softly, but Cheryl still heard it. She tensed, hoping that she wasn’t going to have to tell Sage off, but then Sage kept talking, “I’m sorry for how I was acting when we saw you and Cheryl during spring break. Cheryl told me she wasn’t seeing anyone, and that she wasn’t interested in dating anyone, so I guess I just got kind of like, stupidly offended.”

“It’s cool,” Toni said. “But don’t be too offended anyway, because she played hard to get with me for like, months, and you showed up a little late in the game.”

Cheryl cleared her throat, turning to face Toni with a glare. “Excuse me? I didn’t _play_ hard to get.”

“I believe Toni on this one, not gonna lie,” Sage said with a smirk.

Toni just winked at Cheryl, who felt her cheeks flush as she turned away with an eyeroll. “When did you two meet?” Beth asked suddenly, her eyes curious.

“Uh, beginning of the semester,” Toni answered for them both, “at the Fine Arts reception.”

“Oh really?” Josie asked in surprise. “How long have you two been dating?”

Cheryl looked back at Toni, who was looking at her to provide the answer. “A few weeks,” Cheryl answered, “sort of.”

“Sort of?” Tyler asked.

“It’s complicated,” Toni offered, “let’s just leave it at that?”

“What’s your major, Toni?” Margaret wondered.

“Film.”

“Oh, nice! My roommate is a film major! Maybe you know her.”

“Maybe,” Toni agreed.

“She’ll be at my place when we get there, so you can see. Oh, and I hope you all like cheap vodka and red wine, because I think that’s all we have at my place.”

Conversation switched over to alcohols, and Toni caught up to Cheryl, grabbing her hand. “You’re not mad, are you?” Toni asked softly.

“No,” Cheryl answered, “I guess in a sense, you’re right about me playing hard to get. But I wasn’t trying to.”

“I know,” Toni assured her, “it just seemed like the easiest way to simplify it, because I had a feeling that you didn’t want to unpack the real stuff that happened to all of these people.”

Cheryl laughed a little. “You would be correct about that.”

“So, you heard Sage apologize to me?”

“Mmhmm,” Cheryl answered. “That was surprisingly nice. Oh… and Josie apologized to me, in the Blackbox.”

Toni quirked up an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Cheryl answered, squeezing Toni’s hand. “She admitted that what she did was hurtful, and she gave me a real apology. I told her we can try to be friends again… if we take it slow.”

“That’s good,” Toni said to Cheryl, squeezing her hand back.

“You’re not… upset or anything?” Cheryl asked carefully.

Toni shook her head. “No offense to her or anything, but I already know she can’t compete with me, babe.”

“Now who’s cocky?” Cheryl asked, lifting an eyebrow, but not missing the fact that Toni had called her babe for the second time.

“I guess you’re rubbing off on me.”

They walked with the group all the way to Margaret’s apartment, and the rest of the night was surprisingly enjoyable. They all took shots of disgusting cheap vodka, and nursed glasses of red wine, and Tyler ordered pizza for everyone. Beth put on Grease, and they all watched it on and off as they drank and talked, and Cheryl did feel like it was a sort of bonding session. She’d never felt so comfortable around these people, and she was impressed at how well Toni seemed to get along with them—especially Josie and Sage, who both made efforts to talk to her throughout the night. For the first time, Cheryl considered that these people might be real friends, even after Urinetown was over.

It was late when Toni nudged her and then whispered tipsily into her ear, “Wanna get out of here?”

They said their goodbyes and excused themselves. “Should we go to your place?” Cheryl asked. “It’s close to here, right?”

It was, and they were able to walk to distance to Toni’s apartment in about ten minutes. When they got there, Toni poured them each a glass of water, instead of wine, and Cheryl lifted an eyebrow. “This is new.”

“It’s way more fun to fuck you when I’m tipsy and not wasted,” Toni insisted with a chuckle.

They took the cups of water into the bedroom, and as Cheryl took a long drink from hers, Toni pulled her top off, revealing her in white lingerie that contrasted boldly against her darker skin. Cheryl hummed in desire, setting the water on Toni’s nightstand. “I think you’re going to have to wait to fuck me, Topaz.”

“Oh, really?” Toni asked challengingly. “You want to call the shots all of the sudden?”

Cheryl bit down on her lower lip. “Honestly? Something about how good you got along with all of the musical people tonight… is just really turning me on…”

Toni grinned. “Mm, okay then. Oh—but that reminds me… I don’t think you noticed, but at Margaret’s, at one point, Sage called me your _girlfriend_ …”

Cheryl felt her heart clench, and she almost groaned—of course this would come up, after Cheryl had been putting off having this conversation since Sunday. “Oh. Yeah, she said that in the Blackbox earlier, too.”

Toni looked carefully at Cheryl’s eyes, and Cheryl tried not to avert her gaze. “You didn’t correct her?”

“No, because I didn’t want her to get any stupid ideas,” Cheryl answered, “but I corrected Josie when she said it.”

“Okay…” Toni trailed off, but Cheryl could tell that she wanted to say more.

“What?”

“What?” Toni asked back.

“You clearly want to say something else,” Cheryl answered firmly, and she wasn’t sure why she suddenly felt so worked up, but she felt frustration in her chest.

“Uh, I mean, I guess I’m just curious why you corrected one but not the other.”

“Because if Sage thought that there was a chance that I would get with her, she would’ve been super annoying all night.”

“But… there’s not a chance that you’ll get with her?” Toni said, and it was hard to tell if she was stating it or asking it.

“No,” Cheryl agreed, “there’s not.”

“Okay.”

“What?” Cheryl demanded.

Toni furrowed her eyes. “I literally just said _okay_. You’re clearly the one here is who’s mad, Cher.”

“I’m not mad,” Cheryl insisted.

“Okay, so why do you sound so mad?”

“I don’t!” Cheryl snapped, and Toni rolled her eyes.

“Okay, fine, I won’t play dumb. You and I both know why you’re upset, and we need to talk about it, because I don’t think either of us can have sex tonight until we’ve just gotten it over with.”

Cheryl’s eyebrows knit together, wondering if Toni actually knew what was going on in her head. “Okay.”

“I don’t want to rush you into anything you aren’t comfortable with, Cheryl. Obviously, you and I both know that we aren’t seeing other people, and that’s good enough for me right now, if that’s where you need it to be. I just… I guess I thought that maybe you _told_ Sage that I was your girlfriend, and that that’s why she said it, and that’s why I brought it up.”

Cheryl sighed, feeling her frustration suddenly be replaced with anxiety. “Oh.”

“But like I said, I don’t want to rush you into anything.” Cheryl bit the inside of her lip, sitting on Toni’s bed. Toni sat next to her, setting her water glass down as well. “What’s going on in your head, Cheryl?”

“I was talking to Veronica on Sunday, and she asked why we hadn’t said the word _girlfriend_ yet,” Cheryl admitted. “So, it’s been sort of on my mind this week. Every time someone says it, I just get so… like, I feel similarly to how I feel—or, really, how I used to feel every time I had sex…”

“Like, anxious? Overwhelmed?” Toni asked softly, and Cheryl nodded.

“Overwhelmed,” she agreed. “I think… when I hear that word, I think about _Petra_ , and insecure that whole relationship made me—insecure about relationships anyway. And obviously, I haven’t had feelings for Josie in a long while, but when I first started feeling that way toward her, I thought that maybe it could be a chance to reclaim the positivity associated with that word, and then when that failed…”

“I understand,” Toni said with a nod, “I get it. It feels spoiled.”

“I guess so.”

Toni reached out and grabbed Cheryl’s hand, squeezing it firmly. “Petra? She can go to hell,” Toni whispered, “and as far as I’m concerned, if she ever meets me, it’ll be her last day on this planet. She hurt you, and it’s okay to be angry and hurt about that, but she’s not in your life anymore. I can’t imagine how hard it is to do this, but I think that what you need… what you need is to stop letting her have any control over your life, since she’s not a part of it anymore.”

“I don’t let her have control over my life,” Cheryl said defensively.

“Not as much as you used to,” Toni agreed, “but she doesn’t get to ruin the word _girlfriend_ for you, Cheryl. Take away her power by taking back what she ruined for you.”

Cheryl looked at Toni’s dark, compassionate eyes, and wondered how she managed to find this amazing woman. Toni was right—Petra shouldn’t be allowed to ruin the word girlfriend, just like Cheryl wouldn’t let her ruin the word _love_. And Cheryl had a feeling that it wouldn’t be long before she found herself wanting to use that word again.

“You’re right,” Cheryl agreed, “I shouldn’t let her ruin that. Just like how I shouldn’t have let how she or Josie treated me affect how I treated you.”

“There’s no point in saying what you should have or should have not done,” Toni insisted, “just focus on what you can do _now_ , to make _you_ happy. That’s what I want, Cheryl. I want you to be happy.”

“No one has ever made me feel as happy as you do, Toni,” Cheryl whispered, “I hope you know that.”

Toni smiled confidently. “Good to know…”

Cheryl turned her body so it was facing Toni, and crawled across the bed, pushing Toni down into the pillows slowly and hovering above her. “So ask me, Toni.”

“Ask you what?” Toni asked, sounding breathless.

“What you’ve been wanting to ask me all night,” Cheryl whispered, attaching her red lips to Toni’s neck and hearing the girl inhale sharply. Toni’s hands came to Cheryl’s back, digging her fingers into her shirt. Toni didn’t say anything, so Cheryl moved her lips up to Toni’s ear, biting the lobe for a moment and then whispering, “ _Ask me_ , Toni.”

Toni moaned. “Cheryl, would you like to be my girlfriend?” she asked.

The word still caused Cheryl’s heart to jump, but this time, it felt like it was for mostly good reasons, and only a little from anxiety. “Yes,” she heard herself breathe out. Toni’s hands slid down to Cheryl’s ass, squeezing it firmly over her pants.

“I think we should celebrate by getting you out of all these clothes,” Toni murmured.

Cheryl sat up and, in one swift motion, removed her top. She followed the action by reaching down to unbutton Toni’s ripped jeans, and then slid them off her body—underwear along with it. She then removed her own pants and underwear and shed her bra for good measure. Now, the only piece of clothing between them was Toni’s lacy, white bralette, which Cheryl wanted to keep on her.

“Damn, Bombshell,” Toni said, “that was quick.” Cheryl looked up and down Toni’s entire body, her eyes focusing in on her center. She felt a stab of nervousness in her chest as she considered whether to do what she was thinking. “Babe? You okay?”

“I’m okay,” Cheryl insisted, looking back up at Toni’s eyes and crawling up her body, pressing her lips firmly into Toni’s. She tasted like wine and pizza, and she moaned into the kiss, causing Cheryl to feel heat between her thighs. But her pleading clit would have to wait, because Cheryl was on a mission.

She kissed her way down to Toni’s breasts, sucking on her nipples as her right hand explored Toni’s thighs and ass. Toni’s hips bucked slightly, clearly waiting for Cheryl’s fingers to find their way to her center, but that wasn’t all that Toni’s center was going to be feeling tonight.

Cheryl kissed her way down Toni’s abdomen, down to the bone of Toni’s pelvis, and then to her thighs. Her heart was racing as she sucked a mark into Toni’s inner thigh, causing Toni to moan deeply. When Cheryl finished leaving the mark, she brought her hands to the inside of Toni’s thighs, forcing them apart, and settled in between them, her face just level with Toni’s center.

Toni, by now, had realized what Cheryl wanted to do. She looked down at Cheryl with dark but concerned eyes. “Are you sure you want to, Cheryl?”

“I’m sure,” Cheryl whispered, “why, Topaz? Don’t think you can handle it?”

Toni smirked. “Trust me, babe, I can handle it.”

Cheryl took in a breath, gathering all her confidence, and then her lips found Toni’s lower lips. She slid her tongue through Toni’s wetness, tasting her right from the source, and moaned. Toni made a pleased noise as well, and her hands came to Cheryl’s hair, tangling her fingers into it. Cheryl’s tongue slid from Toni’s opening up to her clit, and she felt Toni shudder beneath her.

At his point, she brought in her fingers, teasing them around Toni’s opening as her tongue flicked against her clit. Toni was clearly enjoying it, as indicated by her heavy breathing and how tightly her hands were clinging to Cheryl’s hair, pulling and waking Cheryl’s body up even more. But Cheryl was determined to make Toni come as she ate her out before Toni got the chance to fuck her.

She delved her fingers inside of Toni, pressing her tongue partway inside as well, and Toni moaned loudly. Cheryl began to pulse her fingers steadily, bringing her tongue to Toni’s clit. She flicked her tongue against it teasingly again as she let her fingers do most of the work, and Toni was obviously coming undone. It was so hot, and Cheryl felt wetness dripping down the insides of her own thighs. Her face was also covered in wetness—Toni’s—and she was more than enjoying it.

It took a little longer than normal, probably due to Cheryl’s lack of expertise when it came to oral sex, but finally, Toni hit her climax, her back arching off of the bed and a cry of pleasure escaping her throat. “Holy fuck, Cheryl,” Toni moaned, “that was so good, babe.”

Cheryl bit down on her lip as she pulled her face away from Toni’s center. She resisted her gut reaction to ask “Really?” in response to Toni’s compliment, because she knew that Toni was being genuine. Plus, it would ruin her reputation of being cocky confident.

Toni could obviously tell that Cheryl was doubtful, though, because she reached for Cheryl’s face. Cheryl laid so that her face was hovering above Toni’s. “Seriously, babe,” Toni whispered, “it felt _so_ good.”

“Good,” Cheryl murmured, “now, I believe you said something about fucking me, didn’t you?”

Toni chuckled. “What? Did you get yourself all worked up?” She reached her hand down and landed it in between Cheryl’s thighs, and Cheryl moaned as Toni slid her fingers through her soaked folds. “Fuck, baby, you really did.”

Cheryl bit down on her lower lip hard as she heard Toni call her _baby_. No one had ever called her that before, and she thought she wouldn’t really like the way it sounded, but coming out of Toni’s lips?

“What?” Toni asked her, quirking up an eyebrow. “What, Bombshell? You like it when I call you baby?”

Cheryl wasn’t going to admit it, and Toni obviously knew. Toni’s strong arms were suddenly wrapping around Cheryl’s waist, and she flipped them over. Cheryl gasped as she fell into the pillow, and Toni hovered over her.

“Yeah, you do fucking love it, just like you love when I get on top of you and fuck you—and how you love to be such a good fucking girl for me, huh?” Toni husked. Cheryl practically came right then and there, and she wasn’t sure her clit had ever throbbed more than it was right now.

“Toni,” she pleaded.

“What?” Toni demanded, sliding her leg between Cheryl’s and forcing her thigh up against her center. Instinctively, Cheryl grinded down into Toni’s leg, rubbing her wetness all over her. “You want me to fuck you, baby girl? You want me to make you scream?”

Cheryl nodded, clinging to Toni as she rubbed her clit against Toni’s thigh. Suddenly, though, Toni’s leg was gone, and Cheryl let out a strangled whine. “Please, Toni…” Toni lowered her head so that her lips were next to Cheryl’s ear.

“Say that you’re mine,” Toni demanded. Cheryl whimpered, biting on her lip as she bucked her hips. Toni’s legs were suddenly pressing down Cheryl’s thighs, and she was practically immobilized. “Say it, baby girl, say that you’re mine, and I’ll give you what you want.”

“I’m yours, Toni,” Cheryl breathed out, “I’m yours, now please make me come!”

“Good girl,” Toni whispered, and she finally lowered her right hand to Cheryl’s center. Toni didn’t go slow after that, she swiftly and surely brought Cheryl to her climax, and when Cheryl came, she practically did scream, her back arching her and hands gripping tightly to Toni’s hair.

They fell into a mess of sweat onto the bed afterward, and Cheryl felt peaceful as she came down. She was getting used to it too, not being plagued with memories every time she came. It was so quiet, so peaceful. She could just enjoy the moment, with Toni laying on top of her, both of their breathing heavy.

“I’ve figured something out about you,” Cheryl heard herself say to Toni a few moments later, after her thoughts had begun to wander.

“What’s that?” Toni asked, rolling off of Cheryl and propping herself up on her arm.

“You definitely have some kind of possessive kink,” Cheryl said, teasingly, as she bit down on her lower lip.

Toni furrowed her eyebrows. “Um, no. I don’t have any kinks.”

Cheryl snickered. “So explain why you always want me to say that I need you and that I’m yours and all that.”

“Because,” Toni insisted, “we had so much sex while we had no obligations to each other… that I want you to remember that _now_ , it’s not just sex, and that you are mine. Plus, it’s hot, and you like it—don’t you?”

Cheryl found herself smiling. “Obviously. And don’t worry, Toni… I’m not about to forget that anytime soon.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Toni said teasingly, and Cheryl laughed in response. “You want that last glass of wine now?”

“Please,” Cheryl answered, and Toni happily got up from the bed. Before she went out to get the wine, though, she pulled off her bralette and tossed it to the floor, before strutting naked out into the kitchen. Cheryl grinned, and pulled Toni’s blankets over herself. This was, quite possibly, the happiest she had ever felt, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was only going to get better from here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Choni are girlfriends! And Cheryl finally ate Toni out! Woo!  
> Can I get some hype for the fact that the next chapter is the last?!
> 
> I appreciate all of the comments - once again I just realized I have forgotten to answer them ugh! Sorry! ;-; Hit me up on Twitter @BrittzandTana or leave any comments and I PROMISE this time that I will answer all comments before I post the FINAL chapter, either tomorrow or Thursday. We'll see, I may be kinda occupied tomorrow evening?
> 
> For those of y'all interested, I'm just about to hit 70,000 words on my next story, at 13 chapters done! I'm hoping to be done sometime next week so I can get that getting posted before the semester starts on 8/17! Fingers crossed, send positive vibes!  
> And oh yeah, I finally got my new school laptop, which means that I once again have a laptop that doesn't have the internet crap out regularly! Yay! Haha.
> 
> Anyway! Thank you all so much for spending some time reading this chapter <3 I hope to see lots of comments - which I will reply to this time lol - and hype for the final chapter! <3 Have a lovely week, guys!


	20. Wherever, Whenever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl and the rest of the musical cast perform Urinetown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooooo friends! This is the final chapter of this story, and boy has it been one helluva ride! I wrote this story as a way to distract myself from all of the shit that was going down at the beginning of the summer, and didn't take it all that seriously, so when I posted it, I had no idea so many people were going to get invested. I have appreciated all of the love, the comments, kudos, tweets, DMs, all of it! You guys absolutely spoil me!
> 
> This chapter isn't that long, but it's sweet and I hope that you guys will enjoy it regardless. <3 xx

“Hey, Grandpa,” Toni said into the phone as she looked through her dresser, trying to pick out an outfit for tonight.

“How are you, my girl?” he asked warmly.

“I’m good,” she answered, “how about you? Everything okay?”

“Oh yes, everything is fine. I’ve been doing pretty well, and I’m excited to see you in—what, a month or so? When are your finals?”

“Beginning of May,” Toni answered, “so yeah, I’ll visit in about a month.”

“Good, good,” her grandpa said.

“So, why’d you call?” Toni wondered. Her grandpa didn’t usually call her, so she was inclined to think that there was some sort of problem. “Everything else okay over there?”

“Yes, yes, I actually called because I was thinking about how you haven’t kept me up to date on that _girl_ you called to talk about a few weeks ago.”

Toni blushed, and realized that she _had_ told him that she would keep him updated. “Oh, right.”

“So… how did it go? Did you convince her that love is real?”

Toni bit down on her lower lip, giving up on looking through her dresser and sitting on the edge of her bed. “I hope so, because she’s my girlfriend now, and I’d like to think that she could fall in love with me.”

“Oh, Toni! I’m so happy for you,” her grandpa said excitedly. “What was her name again?”

“Cheryl,” Toni answered.

“Cheryl. Well, you should bring her along when you come to visit after finals.”

Toni lifted an eyebrow. “Okay, maybe. I’ll have to talk to her.”

“Of course, of course. I’m so glad to hear that it worked out.”

“Yeah, I’m really happy it did,” Toni said with a smile.

“Aw, my granddaughter—a sap! I never would’ve guessed.”

“I am not a sap,” Toni denied instantly.

Her grandpa laughed heartily. “Whatever you say, my dear. So, what are your plans for tonight—it’s Friday, after all.”

“Tonight is actually the opening show for the university’s musical… and Cheryl is in it, so me and my friends and her friends are all going to see it and support her.”

“Oh, that’s interesting. I don’t know much about musicals.”

“Me neither,” Toni admitted with a laugh. “Although, you wouldn’t believe it, I’ve officially seen one on _Broadway_. Cheryl took me.”

“Broadway, huh? Sounds like college life is really changing you,” he teased.

Toni laughed. “I think I’m just growing up, Grandpa.”

“I guess so,” he agreed. “Well, I’ll let you go so you can go watch your girlfriend perform.”

“Alright. I love you, Grandpa.”

“Love you, Toni. I’ll see you after finals.”

Toni smiled, and hung up the phone. It was sweet of her grandpa to call just to check in about Cheryl.

She went back to her dresser to find an outfit, and just as she was picking out some torn-up jeans, a tight white blouse and her favorite leather jacket, her phone buzzed.

**Messaging: Veronica**

**Veronica – Hey girl! We are outside!**

“Fuck,” Toni muttered, quickly changing into her outfit and grabbing her wallet and keys—and phone, of course—and then bolting out the door.

She got down to the street and saw a cab stopped on the curb, and Veronica and Betty were inside it. They’d offered to pick Toni up in their cab on the way to the show, and Toni’s friends would all meet them there. Veronica opened the door for Toni and she climbed in.

“Sorry,” she apologized quickly, “my grandpa called so I was running a minute late.”

“That’s okay,” Veronica insisted. Betty asked the cabbie to take them to Gale, and Toni let out a breath.

“Thanks for the cab, guys,” Toni said, “I usually just walk to campus.”

“Yeah, Cheryl told us,” Betty responded. “You aren’t a super far walk.”

“Exactly.”

“You excited to see the show, Toni?” Veronica asked with a grin.

“Very. I’ve never heard Cheryl sing.”

“What? You haven’t made her sing for you?” Veronica demanded. “She’s got a nice voice. You’re in for a treat, Toni.”

“Oh, Toni, Veronica has been wondering if Sweet Pea will be joining us this evening?” Betty asked, getting a glare from Veronica in response. Toni smirked.

“He will,” she answered, “and I’m sure he’s just as excited as you are, Veronica. I don’t understand why you two are being so weird. Didn’t you exchange numbers?”

“Yeah,” Veronica answered, “but sometimes it’s fun to just… I don’t know, spontaneously meet up, you know?”

Toni snickered. “You and Cheryl are a lot more alike than I thought.”

“Yeah, I gave up on trying to understand them,” Betty agreed. “If you like someone, just say it and move on.”

Veronica scoffed. “Oh yeah, Miss Perfect Betty Cooper? What about Toni’s friend Jughead? You were giving him major eyes when he came over with everyone else at that party. How come you didn’t just say you liked him?”

“Um, because, there’s only so much acceptable interdating between friend groups,” Betty answered, as though it were obvious.

Toni laughed. “Now who’s overthinking?”

“Okay, I might be overthinking, but what Veronica does is like… under-thinking, or something.”

“You two are hilarious,” Toni said with a grin. The cab was pulling up to Gale now, and Veronica forked over some cash to the cabbie as they all got out and started the walk to the theater. As they got closer to it, they saw Toni’s friends all gathered near the entrance, waiting for them.

“Hey, Tiny!” Fangs called excitedly.

“Hey Fangs, hey guys,” Toni greeted.

“You guys excited to see Urinetown?” Kevin asked with a grin.

“Definitely,” Veronica answered, “how about you?”

“Oh yeah. I heard it’s pretty funny.”

“It’s going to be the first musical I’ve ever seen,” Peaches said, “so I guess I’m as ready as ever.”

“Same,” Jughead agreed.

“You’ll like it,” Betty told Jughead with a smile.

“Actually, you probably will,” Toni said, “I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of like, social injustice shit. Right up your alley.”

Jughead rolled his eyes.

“Let’s go in?” Veronica suggested.

They all headed into the theater, passing their tickets to the usher who was checking them and accepting the programs they were handing out. As they found their seats, they noticed a few people dressed as poor people asking the audience for money, and Toni found herself amused at the fact that the show hadn’t even started yet, and yet it felt like it had. Veronica grabbed a dollar out of her purse and handed it to one of the actors, who gasped and practically bowed down to Veronica, and the whole group laughed.

The show started, with Margaret as Little Sally and someone else—Tyler, Toni realized—playing a police officer, and they both set the scene for the show.

Not too long into the musical, Cheryl made her appearance, and Toni found it incredibly amusing that she was dressed as a poor, older woman, totally opposite of her actual look and vibe. However, Cheryl was excellent at portraying Penelope Pennywise and her hard-ass personality.

When Toni got to hear Cheryl sing, she was beyond impressed, and she continued to be impressed by Cheryl’s acting as well, throughout the whole production. Plus, the musical was actually really interesting to watch. It was also pretty amusing to Toni when it was revealed that Penelope Pennywise and Mr. Cladwell had once had a love affair. The end of the musical, though, was actually pretty grim, but Toni found that intriguing. It wasn’t a film, but she found herself getting into it almost as much as the films she was always so interested in.

At the end of the musical, the cast did a curtain call, and Toni recognized a good portion of the cast as their characters. The audience applauded as each and every one of the cast members came out, some in groups and some alone, and bowed or curtsied. When Cheryl walked out, smiling and bowing dramatically before the audience, the whole group started to cheer loudly—Cheryl definitely got some of the loudest cheers. Toni might’ve been embarrassed by some of the looks people gave them—especially her—but she couldn’t help herself. She felt pride swelling in her chest as she met Cheryl's gaze, and the redhead's smile widened a little more.

“Well, that was an interesting plot,” Sweet Pea said, and Toni could tell that he hadn’t _loved_ it. “Also… not sure musicals are for me.”

“Same,” Peaches agreed, “but they were all pretty good.”

“Are you guys kidding?” Kevin demanded. “They did amazing, that was all amazing. Right, babe?”

Fangs nodded. “It was definitely cool, Kev.”

Veronica rolled her eyes. “It was awesome, and Cheryl was amazing.”

“She was,” Toni agreed, “and I’m discovering that maybe I like musicals?”

“Of course _you_ would,” Peaches said with a smirk, “because you’re a nerd.”

“Oh, shut up.”

They waited outside the theater until the cast came out, and Cheryl immediately rushed to Toni and the whole group. “What did you guys think?”

“You did amazing!” Toni exclaimed, as the rest of the group offered similar affirmations. Toni grabbed Cheryl’s hand and squeezed it. “I really liked it.”

“ _Some_ of us can’t appreciate the fine art of performance,” Kevin said accusingly, looking at Peaches and Sweet Pea, “but most of us recognized the brilliance of your performance, Cheryl.”

Cheryl laughed. “Well, thanks, Kevin.”

Suddenly, Josie appeared next to Cheryl. “Hey, guys!” she exclaimed, looking at Veronica and Betty, who looked pretty surprised to see her.

“Josie,” Veronica said, “hey! You did amazing as Hope!”

“Thanks, girl!”

“So, uh, are you two talking again?” Betty asked, gesturing between Josie and Cheryl, clearly not one for subtlety.

“We are,” Cheryl answered a bit formally.

“Yeah,” Josie agreed, “a bunch of the cast and Toni went to Margaret’s—that’s Little Sally—last weekend, and we worked through our less than pleasant history from last semester.”

Veronica grinned, looking proudly between Cheryl and Josie. “Well, good!”

“Um, guys, this is Josie. Josie, these are my friends Sweet Pea, Fangs, Kevin, Peaches, and Jughead,” Toni said, gesturing to her friends.

“Nice to meet you guys,” Josie said with a sweet smile, “ooh, especially you Sweet Pea…”

“Hey, hey,” Veronica snapped, “I have dibs, Josie.”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Josie insisted, “trust me, I’m not trying to get on the bad side of any of you three ever again.”

Sweet Pea just stood there blushing, and Fangs elbowed him teasingly.

“How about drinks?” Kevin suggested.

“Ooh yeah!” Veronica agreed. “At our place! We have the most space.”

Toni caught Cheryl rolling her eyes, and she knew that they didn’t usually host people at their apartment, but then Cheryl smiled and nodded. “Yeah, definitely.”

That’s how they ended up all at Cheryl, Veronica, and Betty’s apartment—Josie included. At some point, Margaret, Sage, Beth and Tyler all showed up as well, after Josie apparently asked Cheryl if she could invite them. It was a big celebratory party, and they all drank a lot and accidentally skipped dinner, and when it was well past midnight, everyone who didn’t live there started to filter out. Well, all except Sweet Pea, who Veronica dragged into her room, and Toni, of course.

As she and Toni were getting ready for bed, Cheryl asked, “So, you really liked Urinetown?”

“I did,” Toni promised her. “It was a really interesting story. Is there a film version?”

“No,” Cheryl answered, “I don’t think it ever got popular enough to become a movie. But not all musicals have to become films to be great, you know?”

“I know,” Toni insisted, “and to be honest, people like movies that have completely positive endings, and the ending of that musical was… well, a little grim.”

“Yeah,” Cheryl agreed, “well, that’s the fun of it, I guess.”

“It was really fun to watch you,” Toni told her. “All of it, the singing and the acting. I guess all that’s left is that I need to see you dance.”

Cheryl laughed. “I’m sure that can be arranged, TT.”

“Good,” Toni said with a grin. “Oh, hey, by the way. My grandpa called me this afternoon to ask about you.”

“About me?” Cheryl asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” Toni answered, “because I had called him to ask him advice whenever you and I were… you know, fighting about feelings and all that. He wanted an update.”

Cheryl smiled. “That’s sweet.”

“Yeah, he’s a huge softie. Big contrast from my uncle, and probably the reason I didn’t turn out to be a complete asshole. Also, probably the reason that I do have the ability to feel real feelings,” Toni joked.

“I know you say that you never really had feelings for people before me,” Cheryl said, “at least, ones that lasted a while… but I can’t picture it. You are such a sap.”

Toni scoffed. “First my Grandpa calls me a sap, and then you? Who is spreading these lies?”

Cheryl laughed. “You are a sap, Toni, just admit it.”

“I’ll admit it when you admit that you’re a bottom—and not just because you want me to make you come,” Toni clapped back, and she didn’t miss Cheryl’s cheeks flush.

“Speaking of making me come,” Cheryl said, lifting an eyebrow at Toni, who laughed.

“Bossy as ever I see,” she teased. “Aren’t you tired? You were like, rehearsing and setting up all day, and all that acting and singing seems tiring as hell. Plus, we were just socializing and drinking for like, hours.”

“I guess I’m a little tired,” Cheryl answered, right before she let out a big yawn. “Okay, yeah, I’m tired.”

“How about I promise to fuck you first thing in the morning?” Toni suggested, smirking as she and Cheryl left the bathroom and made their way to Cheryl’s big, comfy bed.

“That sounds good to me, TT.”

“Good,” Toni said with a smile. They turned off the light and climbed into bed, and Cheryl scooted right up next to Toni, who naturally wrapped her arms around her girlfriend. “I can’t believe you tried to convince me that you don’t like cuddling.”

“Shut up,” Cheryl muttered half-heartedly.

“Hey,” Toni said quietly, “would you want to come meet my Grandpa after finals? When I go visit home, would you wanna come with me?”

Cheryl looked up at Toni with sleepy eyes. “You want me to?”

“Of course,” Toni answered.

“Then yes. But… you should know, I’m not great with like, parental figures,” Cheryl murmured.

“You’ll love my Grandpa, and he’ll love you, I promise,” Toni assured her. “I know that you don’t have a good relationship with your parents, but he has never cared about my sexuality or anything like that. He’s super open minded, and he’ll love you, I swear.”

Cheryl smiled. “Well, I would love to meet the man who made sure that you are a secret sap.” Toni huffed, and Cheryl let out a little laugh. They laid there in silence for a moment, and then Toni let out a little, happy sigh.

“I guess I’m maybe a little bit of a sap—but just for you, Bombshell.”

“I know, TT.”

“And you have to admit that you’re one, too.”

“Whatever you say.”

“I’ll get you to admit it someday.”

“Yeah, the same day you get me to admit that I’m a bottom?”

“Yep, that very same day.”

Cheryl laughed, curling into Toni. “Let’s go to sleep, babe.”

Toni felt her heart swell, and she held Cheryl close to her. “Okay. Hey… you really did amazing onstage tonight.”

“Thank you,” Cheryl murmured sleepily.

After a few more silent minutes, Toni opened her mouth and heard the words quietly leave her lips, “I think I’m falling in love with you…”

There was no response, and Toni quickly realized that that was because Cheryl had fallen asleep. She smiled to herself, not even upset, because she knew that she would get the chance to tell Cheryl later. It was crazy to think that she was so confident in thinking that, considering how far they’d come. And as crazy and stressful as it had been at times, Toni would do it all over again for this same ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AWWW! Y'all I can't believe this was the last chapter!  
> I know the title of this chapter was a little misleading, but I decided to do "Wherever, Whenever" to kind of point out that since Choni is together now, falling in love with each other, there doesn't have to be a time or place anymore, you know? (I was tempted to just title the chapter "Urinetown" and let you all think they were going to fuck during the musical or something lmao)
> 
> Before I let you all go, I want to give you another HUGE thank you! I appreciate that you all have spend time reading and commenting on this story. Which is why I'm giving you an exclusive lil summary of my NEXT Choni story. Here it is: Toni Topaz has been planning this trip to Italy for months, but some changes in her plan have caused her to end up there alone. When she meets the beautiful and wealthy businesswoman Cheryl Blossom, her trip takes some very unexpected turns.
> 
> I am going to try to finish the whole new story by the end of the weekend. The day I finish it is the day the first chapter goes up, so keep your eyes peeled early next week folks! I hope to see you all there <3 In the meantime, please feel free to follow me on Twitter @BrittzandTana, and have a wonderful weekend!

**Author's Note:**

> So... this story was written in the past 3-ish months, and obviously a lot of crazy shit has gone down in the world during that time. Writing this story has been my escape from all of the stress and anxiety. So I can't promise that it's like, perfectly written. Actually, if you follow me on Twitter (@BrittzandTana) and remember me tweeting saying that I deleted like 15,000 words of a story and rewrote it... that was this story, and I did that like more than once. I tried to make it all as cohesive and fleshed out as possible, despite all of the changes, but for the most part, I wrote this story because it was fun and I hope that it will be fun to read as well!
> 
> Anyway, thank you for taking some time out of your day to come and read this update! I will be updating at least every week (maybe more often). I hope you all are doing well, stay safe, and I'll see you for the next update!


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